The Mad Cycle
by Zokolov
Summary: A group of sociopathic losers who work for a goverment organization try to find out the truth about Red's disappearance and plunge deep into the minds of legendary Pokémon, whose intentions are unknown. And at the same time, Heatran awakens...
1. Prologue

_**EXTRANORMAL OPERATIONS**_

**VOLUME I: THE MAD CYCLE**

Author's Notes:

_Hello, again. As always, there won't be any other author's notes mid-story, so this will have to do. Basically, I have started a whole new series of Pokémon-fics, which will tell an entirely different story than my last one, but will mostly feature the same characters. In this particular story, I am drawing inspiration from X-Files and the like, but most of is just from my head. Isshu/Unova and Generation V Pokémon will feature heavily. I'm trying to keep track of the translations they're making and I'm going to use English names for Pokémon and locations if possible._

_For the story itself, I cannot say much at this point, as it unfolds itself slowly. But a complex plot will follow, where the central characters are agents work for a shady group called Extranormal Operations. The disappearance of famous Pokémon Trainer Red causes an investigation which leads them to a complicated conspiracy, and legendary Pokémon are doing whatever they can to kill our pathetic "heroes". Fun for the whole family (or not)!_

_Well-thought and helpful reviews are always appreciated. Even if... no, _especially, _if the tone is negative. __No pressure or anything, but every time you don't review, a Sandshrew will DIE!_

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* * *

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_**PROLOGUE**_

1:06 PM. November 20th. The year was 2098. A cold afternoon in Olivine City. The waters around this once-beautiful port town in Johto were freezing. The ground was colored by thousands upon thousands of leaves, leaving the trees bare and colorless. During summertime, this lively town was filled with the chirping of the Pidgey, with the occasional Tentacool being stranded on the beach. Now, there wasn't a single Pokémon in sight, and it was rare even to see a human walking around at this hour.

Nervously, a short man left the local Pokémon Mart, going through the contents of his pocket. Amidst the receipts, used handkerchiefs and old Pokéblocks, was a package. He needed to deliver this to the local café, located across the road. The man's eyes shifted back and forth as he crossed the empty street. Someone was definitely watching… whether it was a criminal attempting to take him out, the Patrol Invest Group trying to take him away for "interrogations" or just a friendly neighborhood stalker… it didn't matter. The man found himself sweating underneath his several layers of clothing. Still, no one apprehended him as he stepped into the Olivine Café.

As the short, nervous man entered the café, the head waiter approached him immediately, smiling widely and holding a menu in hand.

"Welcome to the Olivine Café, good sir," the head waiter proclaimed, but the short, nervous man walked past him, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Nonetheless, the head waiter followed while talking at the short man:

"Uh, sir… perhaps you would like to reserve a table? Or maybe you want to look at our menu? If I may recommend, sir, the Remoraid filét served with duchesse potatoes is today's special, and the accommodating sauce is one of the chef's most famous creations! Today, it comes with chopped Weepinbell leaves, though I may warn you, we leave the Stun Spore in them, so our food is not for the faint of heart. Sir? _Sir_?"

While the head waiter continued to advertise his product, the short man was nervously walking between tables, bumping into people and trying to look for someone. He then walked to the bar, but the man he was looking for was not ready for him.

"Sir? I-"

"Would you _keep it down for a while_?" the short man snarled at the waiter. "I'm looking for this person called… uh, Looker. Said he'd meet me here."

"A gentleman calling himself Mr. Looker did indeed reserve a table for two, but we could not get one on such short notice. He is waiting at the far side of the bar, on… _that_ stool at the darkest corner of the restaurant. Now, the bartender has made a Krabby Cocktail mix that you will definitely enjoy. Our generous-sized menu is… umm, how was it again… 'chock-full of hearty fare for beefy sailors'! If you'd like to have a table for one, I'd-"

"For the love of God man, I won't tip you!" the short man snapped. "I just came here to meet my contact! I mean, my friend! Go wipe some glasses or something!"

Insulted, the head waiter left, while the short man made his way to the man sitting in the dark corner. Subtly, the short man sat on the stool next to his contact, made sure no one was looking, and muttered:

"Looker?"

"Identification first," the contact said. "You Isaac?"

"Yes, yes, isn't that obvious?" the short man, Isaac, whispered sharply. "Now are you Looker or not?"

"Not," the contact replied simply. "Detective Looker has other issues on his mind. I was sent here instead. My name is Palmer, Barry Palmer."

"No kidding…" Isaac said while growing increasingly edgier. "Uh… say… are you a cop as well?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'cop'" Palmer replied. "I'm not of the HSF, or the P.I.G. or even the International Police. I don't beat hippies, pull over minorities, force people to file reports that go nowhere or drive around buying doughnuts. Huh… I guess you could say that I'm not a cop. More like a private investigator. But it doesn't matter right now. Say… take off that jacket and the hat… I don't feel comfortable talking to someone who might actually be a cyborg for all I know…"

"Fine…"

Isaac agreed to take off his hat and jacket, revealing his silly-looking, blonde, mushroom-style haircut and his pink shirt. It was no wonder this informant wanted to get into police protection - the man didn't seem like he could fight his way out of a sci-fi convention.

"Alrighty then…" Palmer sighed, trying not to laugh at Isaac. "According to the profile, you graduated from the Pokémon Ranger School in Almia, then became at technician who worked for Altru Inc, then quit and started working for Professor Hastings back at the school. Your IQ is 163, and so is, apparently, your height, in centimeters."

"Is this going anywhere?"

"Easy there, big guy," Palmer said. "So, what happened?"

"I was under the influence of Altru's CEO, Blake Hall," Isaac explained. "You probably have heard of him, he was arrested for illegal experiments a few years ago. After that, I stopped working for Altru, but it doesn't change what I've heard. It relates to the murders that happened three years ago… and of that mysterious disappearance shortly before."

"Ah, yes…" Palmer said, looking at another file. "Red… no last name given. A charismatic trainer hailed as the hero of Kanto. He defeated Team Rocket once, stopped a Moltres from burning down a town and became the Pokémon League Champion. He went undefeated until he gave his status to the current champion, Lance. Then, he started investigating the mysterious murders and… vanished."

"And I know how!" Isaac exclaimed, urging to give his info to someone. "But this really isn't the place to discuss it."

Isaac looked around him. The place wasn't full, but every person in the café was suspicious. The bartender, a young, blonde-haired woman looked like she had just listened to the conversation between Palmer and Isaac. Not only that, but she seemed to get plenty of drink orders mixed up.

"Hey!" a customer shouted at the bartender. "This isn't a White Russian! It tastes like crap!"

"Oh, whoopsie…" the bartender giggled. "I got the vodka bottle mixed up with that lighter fluid… oh, well. Try not to smoke just yet, hon."

Then the bartender proceeded to drop a glass, though it didn't seem like it was accidental, more like she had smashed it on the floor on purpose.

"Oh, clumsy me!" she proclaimed dramatically. "You! Hygiene technician, whoever you are! Clean this up or I'll report you to the INS!"

A janitor with at thick moustache soon arrived to the scene to clean the glass shards, though the rest of his face was mostly covered by his hat. For some reason, the janitor and the barmaid kept talking to each other, muttering so no one else heard what they said.

Isaac looked away from this scene, then looked around the café. Besides the drunkard vomiting on the bar counter, there were two sailors sitting and eating, and in another, larger table, four heavily smoking men sat, discussing softly. They all wore similar clothing, with a color scheme consisting of mostly light blue, white and grey. Complete with hoods and gloves and a shield-like logo, their uniformed-like clothing made them resemble knights of some sort, further making Isaac nervous.

Isaac shook his head and turned to face Palmer again.

"I don't like this place," he whispered. "We need to leave. _Now_."

"You chose this pisshole," Palmer shrugged. "Whatever you say. But first, I need to make sure that you have what I need. When you contacted Looker, you mentioned that you had this USB-drive with some important data… regarding this Pokémon… Heatran, was it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I have it, I got them from Altru's files…" Isaac muttered as he and Palmer started walking away from the café, towards the door. "This data can get me killed… or worse."

"Worse?"

"Let's just say that you don't want to know…"

But as Isaac and Palmer made their way to the exit, the four people in uniforms started moving. As in slow motion, Palmer saw one of them reach out for his Poké Ball, but Palmer reacted instantly, opening a Poké Ball that he had stashed in his sleeve.

Accompanied by a bright red flash, a Rhyhorn appeared from the ball, knocking down the sailors' table, causing disgruntled murmurs. Those soon went silent as all the other suited people drew Poké Balls, unleashing four Houndour on Palmer and Isaac, causing Isaac to shriek from terror and hide behind Palmer. Between the Rhyhorn and the four Houndour, a Mexican standoff was ready, but Palmer kept hoping that it didn't have to go that way. Instead, he opted for diplomacy:

"What do you want?" he asked the men in uniforms. "Maybe we can talk things over?"

"No, we failed!" Isaac whined. "Hurry, kill them and let's get out of here."

"Zip it, Isaac," Palmer said. "All right, you four… um, who do I talk to?"

One of the uniformed gangsters signaled the others to wait, then approached Palmer. The gangster's face was obscured by a gray hood and sunglasses, but spoke with surprising clarity. Palmer was able to recognize the voice as female.

"I agree," she said. "But we know that spotty pip-squeak behind you has info we need. So how about we negotiate about that? We are willing to, err… pay, even."

Palmer went over his chances. There was no way he could keep them talking long enough, and would be overpowered regardless. Perhaps the gangsters would go away with sufficient persuasion? Unlikely, but possible.

"No dice," Palmer said. "I suggest you don't even try to take the data."

"Your funeral, dude," the female gangster said. "Plasmas, attack!"

But before the four Houndour could prepare to attack simultaneously, something intervened. After another bright red flash, a Totodile jumped into view, launching a Water Gun towards the Houndours. Howling and whimpering, all four Houndour took a step back. The Totodile jumped directly into the empty space between the four Houndour and the Rhyhorn.

"Who sent that out?" Palmer wondered, looking around him. The barmaid and the janitor had disappeared. "Never mind, I've got a job to finish. Rhyhorn, use Horn Attack and get that gator out of our face!"

"Technically, it's a crocodile!"

Whoever uttered this last phrase was out of sight, and soon Palmer and the uniformed gangsters had to avert their eyes when another red flash almost blinded them. Out of the blue, a Sandshrew charged towards Rhyhorn. Despite its inferior stature, just being curled into a ball helped the Sandshrew to knock the Rhyhorn on its back.

The trainers behind the Totodile and the Sandshrew revealed themselves. First, the janitor ripped off "his" false moustache and uniform, revealing a young woman with dirty, frizzy black hair, wearing a blue denim jacket, jeans and a red top. Meanwhile, the "barmaid" also ripped off "her" clothing and wig, turning out to be a small, blonde-haired man with a constantly bewildered expression on his face - Kris and Shane.

"Extranormal Operations!" Kris announced, briefly showing everyone in the café her badge. "I'm calling an end to these shenanigans! We just came here for the data, so chill out! Agent nine. _Agent nine_!"

Shane didn't seem to recognize his code name, as he just stood in place, smiling goofily.

"_Shane_!" Kris hissed.

"Oh, sorry, I must have zoned out," Shane said after finally realizing what he was supposed to do. "Shrew, snatch the data!"

Shane's Sandshrew, creatively nicknamed 'Shrew', lunged towards Isaac, who shrieked out of terror. But Shrew simply snatched the USB-drive from Isaac's pocket, then scuttled back to Shane, giving the drive to him. But the moment Shane touched the drive, Kris snatched it from him. Shane just stared at his empty hand for a few seconds, then realized what had happened.

"_Hey_!"

"Sorry, but this is valuable," Kris said.

"I _know_ that," Shane said and rolled his eyes. "I did well in practice! I carried that sugar bag around for a week!"

"Why the hell did you do that?" Kris wondered. "That wasn't a part of our training!"

"It wasn't?"

"Yeah. No."

"At least give me the memory stick!" Shane whined, trying to grab the USB-drive that Kris held too high for Shane to reach. "C'mon, be fair!"

"I already have a safe place for it," Kris said.

And with that, Kris quickly crammed the memory stick in her mouth and swallowed it. After gagging and swallowing for a few seconds, Kris finally managed to get it all the way down, and Shane just stared at him in shock.

"Aww _crap_!" he exclaimed.

"Yep, that's right," Kris said.

Shane was annoyed by Kris' obnoxiously self-righteous tone and the way she rubbed her belly while saying it, just to rub it in Shane's face.

"That reminds me," Kris said, "we have to pick up some tacos on the way to HQ. The boss probably wants this ASAP."

"Uhh… excuse me?" Palmer said.

Kris and Shane seemed to have forgotten that they were still in the middle of a Mexican standoff, with their Pokémon ready to attack, along with Palmer, Isaac, the uniformed gangsters, the other customers and employees, along with the Rhyhorn and the four Houndour. Kris raised her fist and coughed, trying to maintain her professionalism.

"I'm a bit lost here…" Palmer said. "Who are you guys again?"

"Extranormal Operations, and that's all you need to know!" Kris said.

"Yeah, that's right!" Shane said. "Shane Stephens and Kris Zimmerman, remember the na - OUCH!"

Kris had to step on Shane's foot, but the damage had already been done. Suddenly, Shane also realized what he had said, and hastily tried to correct his mistake.

"Umm… I mean…" he flustered. "Uh, forget I said anything!"

"Wait…" muttered the drunken customer who finally seemed to grasp what was going on. "You're… a dude? But I groped…"

"Nope, you only got down and dirty with a pair of waterballoons!" Shane said. "And FYI, people don't usually like when random drunkards try to grope them. So that should have been your cue."

"Come on, Shane… I mean, Agent Nine!" Kris said. "Let's blow this joint!"

"Right behind ya!"

In total silence, Kris and Shane made their way towards the door. It wasn't until at there when they recalled their Pokémon and quickly ran to their car. The customers inside soon heard the doors slamming, the engine being turned on and the car quickly taking off. Finally, Palmer said what everyone was thinking:

"What the hell was that about?"

**

* * *

**

**Route 39, driving towards the base**

After visiting a Taco Bell and making the wrong turn three times, Kris and Shane finally got on the main road and started driving towards the HQ of Extranormal Operations. Seeing as Shane took great pride in his track record ("_I have been the driver five times, and five cars have crashed! Not many people can do that!_"), it was up to Kris to drive them safely to the base. Seeing as she had never driven before joining ENO, she was nervous, constantly leaning forward and tightly gripping the steering wheel while never breaking fifty. But as private motoring had been greatly limited over the years, there was no real traffic to speak of. Anyone who had the experience of being in a confined space with Kris and Shane more than two minutes could testify that those two could not keep their mouths shut, and once again, the four-hour trip to the base seemed like a short time, as Kris and Shane yammered about a variety of topics:

"…and _that's_ my formula to cold fusion, really, it works, check it out," Shane said. "So, see, I know _something_!"

"Sure," Kris said. "I believe you. But that nuclear reactor you mentioned? I don't think a coat hanger and chewing gum would suffice."

"Of course you need plutonium and all that stuff," Shane admitted. "But really, I bet you five whatevers that I can build one tonight! Then we'll see who's delusional around here!"

"Bee tee double-u, Shane, there's no _whatevers_ anymore," Kris said, keeping her eyes on the road, looking for the next road sign. "The currency is poké-dollars or something similar now. The new Committee that they established in Isshu... I mean, Unova, is working on that subject."

"Unova?"

"Yeah… that new region back east, they finally established a government there," Kris said. "We visited Karakusa Town once, remember? The region is inhabited mostly by Japanese people! I hear they do all sorts of wacky stuff out there, like… triple battles, Pokémon musicals and stuff. Oh, and everyone speaks Japanese, have Japanese names for everything… isn't that cool?"

"How Gastly!" Shane shuddered. "Probably everyone there are saucer-eyed freaks with unrealistic haircuts and ambiguous genders… oh, and see! I was right! The Japanese _are_ trying to take over the world! I emerge triumphant again!"

"Shut up!" Kris snapped. "It's only a matter of time before they conform and start using English anyway, just like in all of the other regions. They're probably going to change the city names, too…"

"Doesn't make me any less right, though," Shane remarked, leaning back and smiling obnoxiously. "So, this new Committee… what does it, uh… you know… do?"

"Hell if I know," Kris said and shrugged. "It's all politics."

"I hear that," Shane said. "Only dictatorship works, I've been trying to tell that to people, calling their houses, trying to get into The Barry Williams Show, carrying signs, running naked around town while yelling about it…."

Kris decided to consciously ignore that last remark.

"Uhh… why dictatorship, Shane?" she asked.

"Because I'd make a great dictator," Shane said. "Yeah… I believe so. I would make myself King Shane… no, _Mega_-King Shane… no, Mega-_Crimson_-King Shane the Fourth."

"Oh, cool. Could I be your queen, then?" she teased.

"Nah, no hard feelings, but I would probably have to behead you," Shane said. "It's politics, Kris, you understand."

"I understand that I'm driving," Kris said. "And I literally have the power to end your life, right here, right now. I am the dictator in this car. You get me?"

"Say, Kris…" Shane said, now frightened as Kris pressed the gas pedal more firmly. "Did I already say how well you handled that situation there?"

"Whatever. I just wanted to get that thing over with. But thanks."

"Yeah, though you probably shouldn't have mentioned that we were Extranormal Operations agents…"

"_What_?"

Kris almost hit a Sentret crossing the street, but paid literally no attention to the road now, as she could just gaze at Shane.

"I wasn't supposed to…?"

"I thought you knew already," Shane said. "Sledge Hammer is pretty clear on that. ENO does not exist in the eyes of the general public."

"Why did you say anything?"

"Because I think it's funny when the boss yells at someone that isn't me."

"Shane, write this down…" Kris said while clenching her teeth together in rage. "Note to self: kill Shane. You got that?"

"Um… yeah."

* * *

**Johto National Park, near the Extranormal Operations HQ**

Slowly, Kris drove past the security of the National Park, and towards the western coastline. It was already night, and as everything was so cloudy, the only source of light were the flickering street lights. They barely lit the various stands around the Pokéathlon Dome, their destination. The extravagant dome wasn't where they were going, though, as Kris and Shane drove the car behind the dome.

The place looked rather innocuous at first glance: simply trees that separated the beach to the north from the dome. The dome itself didn't look so flashy when observed from behind: it was decaying, poorly painted and there was only a single door, which served as the employee entrance. Right near that squeaky door was a lone security guard, but he was not dressed in the standard blue uniform. Instead, he wore a black jumpsuit with the familiar sledgehammer-logo in the chest.

Kris stopped the car right where the security guard could see it, then honked four times and flickered the headlights. The security guard nodded and stepped into the dome. Kris and Shane waited for a few seconds. Then, what looked like solid wall near the door suddenly opened, revealing a secret entrance. Kris and Shane drove in and found themselves in a long, dark tunnel, that would lead them under the water and to the wilderness in the north. This was all routine to them now.

After the tunnel finally started ascending, a door opened at the very end. Kris and Shane drove through, and emerged in what seemed like an enormous complex built in the middle of a forest: the base of Sledge Hammer as well as Extranormal Operations. They were two, simple, cube-shaped buildings connected to each other via a walkway across the rooftops. The smaller but more cleaner and luxurious building to the left was Sledge Hammer's HQ, where the management of the organization resided, and were most of the laboratories were. To the right was a larger, more decaying building where Extranormal Operations and the rest of Sledge Hammer personnel were, along with the training facilities, the crew barracks, the warehouses, the armories and whatever else they could cram. Besides an electric fence that surrounded the property, nothing else was deemed necessary, as was expected that no one would find the base, let alone the secret entrance to it. There still were numerous Sledge Hammer guards patrolling the perimeter, most accompanied by a Growlithe, lazily scanning their surroundings with flashlights.

Kris parked the car to the parking lot, and Kris and Shane stepped away from the car and made their way towards the communications room, where they would report to their superiors. But before they could do that, they found the said superiors waiting for them at the entrance to the Sledge Hammer HQ.

Professor Elm and Blaine stood at the entrance, and both had crossed their arms and looked angry. As Kris was in command of the current operation, she had to take care of the ramifications as well, but she got along with Elm and Blaine well enough to explain herself. Because of this, she casually walked towards Elm and Blaine, pretending that she wasn't nervous at all.

"Hi!" she said happily to the two. "Umm… mind if I squeeze through? I need to report to the boss…"

"Professor Kaminko is in conference right now, Kris," Elm explained. "You can report to us, and we have a few words to-"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Blaine shouted at Kris and Shane.

Blaine managed to impose quite a threat to Kris and Shane, being as he was notorious for erratic behavior, had a loud, deep voice and was quite physically fit for a fifty-year old. Elm raised his hand and tried to calm Blaine down.

"Please, Blaine, you said I could handle this," Elm said.

"I changed my mind," Blaine snarled. "You're too nice! Mix things up a bit. Stir the soup. Tell them like it is."

"Very well, there's no harm in trying," Elm said. "Umm… Kris, Shane… I mean, Agents Five and Nine… your mission wasn't exactly completed according to protocol… by which I mean that we don't usually… umm…"

"Aw, gimme a break!"

Blaine pushed Elm aside so he could chastise Kris and Shane himself.

"Listen up, you two!" he shouted, causing Shane to hide behind Kris. "I don't care how you did, you got the job done, and that's what matters! But you _gave out your names_? Are you stupid or what?"

"I vote for 'or what'," Shane said.

"Gee, news travel fast here…" Kris said and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Well, uh… okay, I have no excuses. We messed up. But hey, we got the data that the boss wanted."

"Ah, yes, and where might it be?" Elm asked politely.

"Err… well…" Kris said. "There's just one thing I need to do first. Mind if I use one of your bathrooms? It's just that the bathroom on our side doesn't even have doors, so…"

"All right, yes, you do your business, then, and hand me the data once you're ready…" Elm said.

After hearing this, Shane started giggling uncontrollably, and no one bothered to ask him why. It's just what he did.

"On a lighter note," Elm said loudly, over Shane's laughter, "we are pleased to announce that the staff Christmas party has just started, and we were waiting for you!"

"Christmas party? Unless my calendar is broken, I think it's November now," Shane said.

"Yeah, but if we want to do this sometime, we need to do it now. Everyone are getting the hell out for the holidays," Blaine said. "Even Elm here, since apparently my company isn't good enough…"

"We went through this, Blaine, don't bring it up now!" Elm chastised. "I have a daughter, you know."

"Gee, you have only said that about a million times by now, so I couldn't possibly know…"

"All right, newlyweds, you can do that later!" Kris said. "I _really_ need to use that bathroom!"

"Yes, very well, Kris. Follow me," Elm sighed.

Kris was frantically jumping up and down now, so Elm had to escort her inside and open the secure bathroom doors for her at the second floor. Blaine and Shane followed the two.

"We prepared a surprise for you, Shane, by the way," Blaine said, sounding a lot more calm and fraternal now. "Your… _friend_, Cheren Black is also here… we made the necessary arrangements to get him here."

Shane's eyes brightened and he smiled upon hearing Black's name. Though he hadn't really felt like attending the Christmas party before, he was certainly going to do it now.

"Thanks!" he said. "Aww, man, isn't Black just the greatest? Hey, did he already tell you about the time when he-"

But when Shane started telling his story, Blaine was already halfway on his way somewhere else, leaving Shane standing alone in the cold, clinical corridors of the base. Deciding not to let this predicament bring him down, Shane started walking towards the other base, to the barracks, where the party was held.

**

* * *

**

**The Christmas Party, Crew's Quarters**

It started around at seven in the evening, but it last all through the night and well into the morning, with the party folk slowly disappearing from sight. Some spent the rest of their evenings in the bathrooms, others went to sleep and some just passed out in random locations.

It was a night of fun, when everyone could just relax even for one moment, forgetting their troubles, forgetting their personal problems and forgetting just about everything protocol-related. It was a night loaded with dancing, booze, gift exchanging, booze, karaoke, booze, philosophy, booze and even more booze. Even the most prudish people who could, for once, let their hair down and whatnot.

Elm and Blaine had arranged for the party, and while they weren't exactly the most social people, they had to keep their spirits high through the night. Kris and Shane attended as well, along with Shane's new friend, Cheren Black. Most of the staff working for Sledge Hammer and Extranormal Operations were gone, so besides Elm, Blaine, Black, Kris and Shane, there were only a handful of people: Lyra, who had troubles keeping her liquor in; Silver, who slurred life-changing philosophies with Lucas and Pearl; Leaf, who decided to go with water that night, as she didn't want her problem getting out; Lieutenant White, who wanted to challenge anyone she met to a match of arm wrestling; Dawn, who ranted about her recent purchases to anyone who agreed to listen; and finally, the happy-go-lucky Bel, who was there all the time, despite no one noticing it at any point.

Nevertheless, it was Bel who agreed to take a photo of everyone for the memories, and it had to be done before everyone got too drunk to forget everything about the night. They wanted the memories to last. As such, for the first time ever, everyone got truly along and came together. Kris, Shane, Lyra, Black, Leaf, Silver, White, Elm, Blaine, Dawn, Lucas and Pearl posed in one picture, being happy and getting along for the first time ever. And perhaps the last.

**

* * *

**

…wait. So, how did all this happen? How did these people end up working for this group and what the hell was going on? Better take a look into the past and see what caused this mess…


	2. Three Years Earlier

_**THREE YEARS EARLIER**_

The Pokémon world as we know it consists of an extremely large cluster of islands, stationed somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean and discovered only recently. Named 'Atlantica', this haven was one of the first conscious attempts for mankind to build a utopia - to live peacefully with Pokémon. After nations from all around the world came together to fight in the first Pokémon-human war in 2061-2063, they formed Atlantica and decided to contain the world's Pokémon population there.

Atlantica consisted of many regions. Specifically, they were called Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Orre, Fiore, Almia, Oblivia, Holon, the Sevii Islands, and the newest addition, the Isshu region. Despite being rather close to each other, the climate in the regions differed vastly - Orre was a scorching desert wasteland, Sinnoh's climate was akin to that of Northern Europe while Hoenn's climate was almost tropical. This oddity was most likely caused by the Pokémon that roamed the regions, especially the powerful, legendary Pokémon. The Hoenn Weather Institute was founded for the purpose of researching these strange weather phenomena.

Over the years, humans and Pokémon had learned to coexist peacefully once more, though they are perhaps not as _friendly_ with each other as they were hundreds of years ago, if you catch my drift. *ahem* Anyway, to move away from interspecies relationships, we arrive to the stormy decade of the 2090's. As the turn of the century loomed closer, tensions between humans and Pokémon were seemingly growing once more. Pokémon training did not have the charm it once had, and in the apathy of today's world, Pokémon Professors were even allowing ten-year olds to run around without supervision. What caused this? How did the world go 'round now it was governed by the strongest trainers, not the best leaders?

* * *

"**The Brown Glass", a bar in Karakusa Town, Isshu**

_11:13 AM. April 25__th__, 2095_

Since this small local was also the only bar within miles, it saw a lot of traffic, and was good for its owner. It was owned by one of the many, many companies that did business in the Pokémon world with an iron glove, taking full advantage of the unstable political climate.

Doctor Paul Krane sat inside, wearing his worn-out black suit and red tie as always when he was not working. A short, stocky man with crooked knees and a thinning hairline, Krane was fifty-three years old, a doctor of Pokémon Medicine who worked at the local Pokémon Center. Or, to put it more accurately, he had endured the work in the local Pokémon Center for a quarter of a century now. He wanted to study human medicine, perhaps become a psychiatrist so he could quench his thirst for knowledge of the human mind. But _no_, after the human-Pokémon war ended in 2063, Krane had to get himself a whole new career in the field of Pokémon. Though Krane was still semi-qualified in human psychology and medicine, it was the field of Pokémon that he had to work on, which was not something that he liked. He had lost an older sister in the war, and though he had long since stopped caring, he never liked the Pokémon he was supposed to treat. He kicked his own daughter out of the house after discovering that she wanted to become a Pokémon trainer, and wanted to live as far from them as possible. He didn't speak of his opinions out loud, though, but whenever he had one Grasshopper too many, the locals at the bar wouldn't hear the end of it. After his daughter left the house and moved away from Isshu, Krane was forever doomed to be locked in a job he hated, living with a woman who he barely spoke with. Few hours in a bar after work was his only way of surviving, and after a tough night shift, Krane was now enjoying a cold drink while reading a book written by Professor J.R. Kaminko.

Though others were not so convinced, Krane believed himself to be an expert on the human mind, which is why he loved to scan his surroundings and listen in on the conversations of others to learn new things. For some reason, the locals did not appreciate this, though they had gotten used to it by now. Now, Krane only pretended to read his book (as he had already read it through about ten times) and listened to a conversation between the bartender and two men sitting at the counter. The bartender was a quiet, constantly scowling man of Japanese descent, while the customers had distinctly American accents: one was older, who kept constantly talking, while the other one was a younger, bespectacled man who did a crossword puzzle and occasionally replied something to the older one's stories:

"…get me another one, willya? Thanks. Anyway, have I told you about my time in the war?"

"Yes, just last night," the younger man said. "And yesterday morning, too. And the day before that. Not that I'm bored, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, but this one is different" the older man said passionately, trying to grab everyone's attention ."So, there were forty of us, a whole platoon, stationed on that hill. Little did we know that it was actually the belly of a Snorlax. And let me tell you, it did _not _appreciate us making a campfire there. Ten seconds later, me and the rest of my squad disappeared into the creature's stomach while everyone else just fled. It was dark, but I had my trusty flamethrower with me. I got out, but as a rather unfortunate side effect, _only_ I got out…"

"Hang on!" the younger guy said with his eyes on the crossword puzzle. "'Oliver Stone, a military unit… _Platoon_ of course! Okay, yeah, continue…"

"You and your crossword puzzles!" the older guy snorted. "If it weren't for us and our generation, you wouldn't have them! You wouldn't have glasses either, by the way. Have I told you this story about… hey, the news!"

"Thank Arceus…" the younger guy muttered.

As the familiar theme tune of '_Reliable News_' was filtered through the bar's background noise, everyone fell silent and instinctively turned their heads towards the TV. The bartender increased the volume.

"You know, I could have been a news reporter!" the older guy said. "Fix me another drink, Hiro!"

"My name is Mort" the bartender replied coldly.

"Whatever, Hiro, just give me the strongest thing you got."

"One Grimer Gurgler coming up! Somebody call a hearse, please."

"Hey, guys, shut up!" the younger guy snapped, wanting to hear the news.

"_Ty, are the bodies showing? Good? How's the skirt? Too slutty or not slutty enough? Yeah? Okay, let's roll. Hello, I'm Gabby Donnelly, and I'm standing in the scene of a horrific crime in northeastern Sinnoh. Our peaceful coexistence with Pokémon has once again suffered a crippling blow, as three as of yet unidentified bodies have been found at the beautiful meadows of Route 224. Though no official statements have been made, police are suspecting this to be the work of a wild Pokémon, a systematical killer, and even though there's absolutely zero evidence of it, we at Reliable News nevertheless have linked the murders to the disappearance of famous Pokémon Champion Red, who abruptly disappeared over almost three years ago. We interviewed Inspector Looker of the International Police, and he had this to say_:"

"_Yeah, uh, we'll probably look into it, I guess. Yeah, that's right, we'll check out that 1-8-7. Or… was it a 8-7-1? Ah, who cares_. _Who's up for some kebabs?_"

"This is what I've been telling you people!" the older guy yelled at anyone who wanted to listen. "This is how it started last time! Disappearances, killings, and the next thing you know, we're going to be sparring with the Pokémon on the battlefields, like during the good old days."

Next, the news started talking about the modifications the Pokémon Radio Network have made. The owner of the Johto Radio Tower, an entrepreneur called Giovanni had created some new shows, such as "Organized Crime: A Media Conspiracy" and "Team Rocket: Keeping The Streets Clean". He had also modified the lottery, so now, instead of giving the winner one million poké-dollars, the rules of the lottery involved the winner of the lottery _giving_ one million poké-dollars to Team Rock… err, charity.

Dr. Krane wasn't interested in this news story, as he started scanning the bar again. Three buff hikers were in one table, speaking unintelligible gibberish. In the table next to them, there was a lone man, someone who wasn't a regular and who Krane had never seen before. For some reason, he sat on a napkin and also used another napkin to hold his glass. He had slick, brown hair, and the strangest clothing Krane had ever seen: a purple suit with diamond patterns, along with a white cape, which made the man look more like a stage magician, or the Joker's secretary, or something. Krane did not know him, but apparently, the other regulars did, as they started taunting him:

"Hey! You!" one of the hikers yelled at the purple-suited man. "Eusine, was it? Ain't you supposed to be up there in Sinnoh with all 'em other suits, flapping your gums about that murder shit?"

Eusine, who was reading a newspaper at the moment, sighed, and lowered his glass, revealing that he was also wearing white gloves, further enhancing the magician-look.

"I didn't expect to run into you three, out of all people" he remarked. "I thought I smelled manure in here…"

"If you know this guy," the bartender said to the hikers, "could you tell him to stop sitting on a napkin. It doesn't make the bar look too good."

"Please!" Eusine whined and stood up while letting his cape float behind him melodramatically. "Surely I cannot be expected to let this… _boorishness_ stick into me. I am only here to wait until my car gets back from the shop, then I'm leaving this backwards city for good!"

"We don't know the guy," the hiker said, "but the feller was workin' with the police, asking us all those questions. Me and my boys saw those murders first-hand, that Suicune Pokémon cut those people apart, real elegantly, like."

"Yeah, tell him, cousin!" the second third hiker shouted in a drunken rage. "Damn thing ain't got no sense of sophistication like us humans, we just use a plain ol'-fashioned shotgun!"

"YEAH! GUNS!" the third hiker yelled for no particular reason.

"Goddamn city folk better get out of this bar now" the first hiker threatened Eusine. "We saw that fancy ride of yers, and we don't like your type here. Beat it!"

Insulted, Eusine got up from his seat and marched towards the door. He opened it, but before he left the bar, he turned to strike a dramatic pose in the doorway.

"Driven out of this place, I leave, but I shall tell you this!" Eusine proclaimed. "You will not-"

Whatever he was about to say next was silenced as the hiker slammed the door shut. The hikers then gathered next to the window and laughed as they saw Eusine tripping on his cape and falling down on his face.

Ignoring this incident, everyone else turned to watch the TV again. Only one story was left, and this one interested Dr. Krane in particular.

"_And lastly_," the newscaster announced, "_we take a brief look at the latest project by professor Jacob R. Kaminko, who we met during the signing of his new book, 'Brain Surgery For Dummies'. Gabby Donnelly is on the scene_."

"_I'm standing here with the acclaimed professor Jacob R. Kaminko, the most acclaimed genius of our lifetime, who just last year won the Nobel prize in every category. Professor Kaminko is perhaps best known for this three achievements: the creation of the Poké Ball together with Silph Co, the discovery of a new metal, 'kaminkomium', as well as the development of Pokémonology, a science dedicated to the research of the creatures known as… cue card, please, Ty… uhh… Pokémon. So, tell me, professor, about this new project of yours._"

Krane left his table and walked straight to the bar counter to get as close to the TV as possible. His idol, professor Kaminko, was on. Krane was not only mesmerized by Kaminko's scientific endeavors, but also just by the man in general. Though Kaminko was probably in his sixties by now as evident by his gray hair, he was still tall and in great physical shape, with probably less wrinkles than Krane. He always wore his lab coat, even in this interview, and he spoke without a pause, eloquently, confidently.

"_First of all, thank you for the praise, Ms. Donnelly_" Kaminko said and crossed his legs while holding a pipe, adding to his confident, knowledgeable image. "_I'm glad I have this opportunity to explain this, _'project'_, of mine to the viewers. We live in an unsettling era. Our ancestors somehow managed to coexist with Pokémon, but throughout our brief existence, mankind has time and time again proved that coexistence has proven, if not entirely impossible, then at least incredibly difficult for a species like us to handle. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that most Pokémon don't have more than animal intelligence. Would we put a dog in charge of a hospital, or a monkey in charge of a government?_"

As Kaminko spoke, Krane was ecstatic, but strangely, no one else in the bar was sharing Krane's views. The bartender and the two guys at the counter were shaking their heads, and one of the hikers was even booing, much to Krane's annoyance.

"_Many may disagree with me, and I respect their views, but the bottom line is that, Pokémon are naturally aggressive creatures, merely weapons with free will. It is questionable if they are even sapient. We have treated them as tools, which will have dangerous consequences. The polar opposite of this kind of thinking is just as dangerous; we cannot allow them to have more power over us, and we must remember that we are dealing with a species that we don't know yet_."

"_To enable in-depth research, free of governmental limitations and bureaucracy, I have formed the Sledge Hammer Intelligence Team, a group of researchers whose objective is to get to the bottom of the mind of the Pokémon, and also, to find a way to manage the threat that they pose. And to answer the question that you must have all been thinking: yes, we are hiring._"

"_Oh, cool,_" Gabby, the reporter, said. "_Any openings in Public Relations_?"

"_No_."

"_Crap…_"

"Turn that crap off, willya?" one of the hikers yelled.

The bartender complied, much to Krane's disappointment. He was so focused on listening to Kaminko's wisdom that he had almost forgotten the last sentence: they were, in fact, hiring.

"I didn't speak of that Sui-cune thingy with much respect," another hiker said, "but I gotta give those goddamn Pokémon some credit. Makin' our lives a whole lot easier."

"Yeah, I mean, my Lickitung washes the dishes, cleans the house and pleasures the wife all in the same time, so I don' have to worry about any of that" said another hiker. "I can just ride around the field with my tractor all day."

"YEAH! TRACTORS!"

"Dang it, Dung, shut your trap!"

"That fancy-pants Kaminko is just speaking out of his ass, we ain't gonna vote him or nothing or whatever he's up to."

"Yeah! I agree even though I wasn't listening or nothing!"

"_Pfft_."

Krane couldn't resist but to scoff at the three hikers, but unfortunately for him, they had heard him. Two seconds later, Krane was surrounded by the big, burly hikers who all looked like they could kill the 5'5'' Krane with a flick of a finger.

"You one of them acadermics too, ain't ya, boy?" one of the hikers asked and spat on the floor to emphasize his point.

"I ain't even read a book in my life" another hiker proclaimed proudly. "If there ain't big titties in the cover, I ain't buying anything that's printed on paper!"

"Yeah, no Tolstoi is going to tell me how to live! I just need to know whether I'm drinking beer or battery acid, and during special occasions, that don't matter neither!"

"YEAH I CAN'T READ EVEN THAT!"

"First of all, perhaps you could back off a bit" Krane said, unwillingly impersonating Kaminko. "Then you might start speaking in a language that even I could understand. Spend a few years in college… hell, _high school_, even, then we'll talk. Okay, bye now!"

"This acadermic is questioning our intelligence!"

"I assure you, there's nothing to question about in that area" Krane said. "My opinion on Pokémon just differs from you. I just don't see them as anything but animals with unorthodox powers, so-"

"They ain't no goddamn aminals!" one hiker yelled while cracking his knuckles. "My mother, who also happens to be my sister, didn't lose ten major Pokémon League Tournament in a row for this country just so I could listen to that!"

"Uh-oh, looks like another fight" the young guy buried in crossword puzzles remarked. "We better lay low…"

"No! I say we agitate 'em!" the older guy said. "I haven't had a good fight in years!"

As the hikers surrounded Dr. Krane, the older guy stood up, smiling widely at the thought of getting to use his fists again.

"Guys, guess what!" he yelled at the hikers. "I think football is actually pretty boring!"

About 0.0031 seconds later, a good old-fashioned bar brawl erupted, ending eventually in the intervention of a group of local peacekeepers: volunteer Pokémon trainers arriving to the town from Kanoko.

* * *

**J.R. Kaminko's office, Goldenrod City, Johto**

_11:58 AM. April 27__th__, 2095._

Professor Kaminko was currently buried to his paperwork, growing an increasingly wobbly pile on his desk. As Sledge Hammer's base was just being built at the moment, Kaminko was forced to buy an office from one of Team Rocket's many skyscrapers. Every once in a while, Kaminko glanced out of the window, only to see the occasional passerby being brutalized by a Team Rocket grunt.

Kaminko's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. The professor shook his head and forced a smile on his face.

"Come in," he said.

His door was slowly opened, and Dr. Krane entered the office, looking timidly around him and avoiding eye contact with Kaminko.

"Err… hello there, professor" Krane said, having completely lost his arrogant demeanor. "I'm, uh, Paul Krane… we spoke on the phone yesterday…"

"Ah, yes, Dr. Krane, good to see you" Kaminko said impatiently and returned to his paperwork. "Please, take a seat. How was your flight?"

For a short moment, Krane merely stood on the doorstep. Did the creator of Pokémonology just ask him to sit down? Just like that? Slowly, Krane made his way to the chair in front of Kaminko's desk and sat down carefully. Kaminko didn't seem to notice any of this, as he was too busy reading his files.

"I apologize for the mess," Kaminko said. "But it shouldn't be long now until our organization gets the proper facilities we need… so…"

The moment Kaminko said '_so_', he turned his grizzled face towards Krane, which caused Krane to sweat uncontrollably.

"Between the period of our phone call and you arriving to my office," Kaminko said, "I have gathered some info about you. Paul Russell Krane, Doctor of Pokémon Medicine with a minor in Psychology. It says here that you have extensive knowledge on both Pokémon and human anatomy… good, we're always looking for talented individuals. We already have a staff physician, though… it is your psychological skills that interest me."

"Um… I see… yes…" Krane muttered, his throat dry but his hands soaking wet.

"You don't really seem like a people person," Kaminko observed, "but, if you're up to the job I have given you, that's all I need."

"Yes!" Krane said unnecessarily loudly, startling Kaminko. He lowered his voice a bit when he continued. "Excuse me. But… yes, I am ready for anything! Trust me, professor."

"Very well" Kaminko said calmly. "I shall tell you the truth. The Intelligence Team isn't all that I'm putting together. We have already collected some of the finest minds of the Pokémon world here: Doctor Toshiko Araragi from Kanoko Town, Professor Gareth Elm from New Bark Town… also, Professor P has agreed to assist our science team, Professor Hastings will supply us with materials we need, Professor Cozmo from the Mossdeep Space Centre is also supplying us with info… we have many people working for us. Our most recent addition is this, um… Blaine. Don't know his last name, but he is good."

"Blaine?" Krane parroted. "I know him. He got booted from the Pokémon Lab after some _blatantly_ unethical experiments."

"I don't give a Raticate's ass, to be honest," Kaminko said. "He's a man who can get things done, and he's loyal as long as he gets paid. I need his skills for… well, I'll tell you later."

"Why not now?"

"It's a matter of trust" Kaminko explained. "We have not signed contracts and I only first laid eyes on you a few minutes ago. Though, to be honest… I am enjoying what I'm seeing."

"You… you are?"

Krane tried to restrain himself, but he was ready to jump up and dance. He was ready to die happy now: professor Kaminko had given him praise. Right after the interview, he was going to get a divorce from that leech of a wife of his. Then, he would tell the administrator at the Pokémon Center what he _really_ thought…

"Yes, I am" Kaminko said. "My background check on you consisted of more than just a CV. Your co-workers described you as the 'quiet, submissive type'… yet a brief conversation with a local bartender completely contradicted this. I personally enjoyed that incident two days ago, where you defended me against three rather muscular hikers…"

"It's how I got this."

Krane grinned and pointed at his left eye, which had been almost completely black a few days ago, and still had traces of blue surrounding it. Upon doing so, Krane also realized that in a normal job interview, bragging about bar fights wasn't exactly the best way to impress your would-be employer.

"But I don't usually solve things with my fists," Krane added hastily, "I tried a diplomatic solution."

"Your personal life is your personal life, Krane" Kaminko said. "It does not concern me. But if you truly agree with my methods - even though you don't even know everything yet - then I will consider… well, let's just say that I am in need of a confidant. A man who will stick by my side no matter of what. I don't doubt that I will be making enemies with some bureaucrats at the Pokémon League… I need people who I can trust. So far, things are looking good for you… yes, you are hired. But as for now, you will work strictly on a need-to-know-basis."

"Of course."

Krane complied. He wasn't even disappointed; if anything, he had been a pessimist before coming to see Kaminko, believing that the great professor would have probably thrown him out after ten seconds with him. He had no idea that Kaminko would even consider making Krane his confidant, his right-hand man…

Without even reading the contract that Kaminko had given him, Krane signed it, and Kaminko spoke about Krane's upcoming job:

"You will start right away, Dr. Krane. Like I said, there's little we can achieve just as a team of scientists. We need people on the field, people who are also loyal to us. We can hire anyone we want; we don't answer to anyone, the Committee only arranges us funds. As far as we're concerned, we're above the law. But I'm only interested in the best. I am putting together an organization called Extranormal Operations. It will operate under the radar, with us as their commanders, but they will need to be kept as a secret. I am talking about a group of extremely powerful agents. With people like that under our command, our potential is unlimited."

"So… my job is to…?"

"Your job is to recruit suitable candidates. Pokémon Trainers who can synchronize with their Pokémon especially well, anyone with military experience, people of specific natures: tough, yet obedient. You know what I'm going at, don't you? Compile a list of suitable names and bring it to me. You have unlimited resources."

"Whoa… I mean, forgive my expression, professor Kaminko… sir… but thanks! You really trust me to handle this all by myself? With _unlimited resources_?"

Kaminko waved his hands impatiently, and Krane got back on his seat. He was already preparing to storm out of the office and start looking for candidates, but Kaminko apparently wasn't finished.

"All by yourself?" Kaminko echoed. "I mean no offense, but surely you don't think I'm placing the most important phase of our project into the hands of just one man, who just recently joined in? No, no… you will be assisted by Professor Elm."

"Oh… well, thanks anyway. I'll start looking for people right away!"

Forgetting to say goodbye or even to grab his copy of the contract he signed, Krane stormed out of the office, without even bothering to close the door behind him. He was too excited, now that he worked with the best minds in the world for the greater good.

Whatever the greater good was…

* * *

**Sledge Hammer Research Facility, Base of operations, near the Pokéathlon Dome**

_6:37 PM. May 8__th__, 2096._

In the tall, more luxurious building which served as the Sledge Hammer HQ, Kaminko was currently working in his office. His office was in the fifth and highest floor of the building - in fact, his office was the only room in that floor, with a full panoramic view of the forest surrounding the base. A more taller and larger base was originally suggested, at least twelve stories high, but Kaminko eventually opted for a smaller, a more secure one.

Surrounded by comfortable couches, an enormous TV screen, expensive paintings and sculptures of legendary Pokémon. He was currently staring at a painting of Heatran, with it surrounded by scenery resembling a volcanic eruption. He then averted his eyes to admire a sculpture he recently purchased. It resembled a dragon-type Pokémon rumored to exist somewhere in Isshu - Kyurem.

A few moments later, Dr. Krane stepped into the office, and assumed his position behind Kaminko's large, mahogany desk. Though Krane had his own office, he was specifically called up so Kaminko could review his findings. A year had passed since Kaminko assigned Krane and Elm to find suitable agents, and at last, it was time to reap the results.

After a long period of silence passed with Kaminko and Krane alone in the office, a knock was finally heard.

"Enter" Kaminko said simply, with the Kyurem sculpture now on his desk.

Professor Elm stepped in. He was a young scientist. Though a specialist in Pokémon evolution, his status as a regional professor forced him to have extensive knowledge on everything Pokémon-related, and his personal passion was mechanics, which is why he had created a machine for healing Pokémon all by himself - the machine was currently in use in the Sledge Hammer Medical Bay. Unlike the short and stocky Krane, the 29-year old Elm was tall and lanky. He had brown hair and thick, round glasses.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, sir," Elm said quietly as he entered.

"Not at all" Kaminko said. "In fact, I have been waiting for you. A year has passed, and I hope you found suitable candidates.."

"Well, first of all, I do apologize for coming so late, but I had to find a substitute for the lab," Elm flustered. "I couldn't just give it to someone random, but I do realize what we're doing here is important and-"

"Get to the point, Elm!" Krane interrupted rudely.

Kaminko didn't comment on this, but he signaled Elm to keep talking. Though he did not look at Krane, he did add his two cents in:

"I respect the work you have done in Johto, professor" Kaminko said to Elm. "Now, could you please show me the files. How many do you have?"

"Three," Elm said, placing the two folders he had been carrying on the table, "and I have two folders here. One is-"

"Only three?" Krane snorted. "Professor Elm, I don't want to criticize how you do your job, but I found six suitable candidates, two of them who are already in training."

"Well, I didn't have the liberty of just quitting my job, "Elm swiped back at Krane. "I actually had some relevance in my hometown."

"Who are they?" Kaminko asked, ignoring the feud between Krane and Elm.

"They're all from my area, sir," Elm said and adjusted his glasses. "Two of them are Pokémon Trainers, and very dedicated ones. The other has combat experience, he and his Sneasel were in the E4 Task Force a year and achieved outstanding records. The other one already has three badges, but she stopped traveling around and took special courses to help her mind to synchronize with her Pokémon better."

"Well, I'll take a look at their files and see if they're what we're looking for" Kaminko said and briefly glanced at the names written into the folders. "Lyra Soul and Silver Sakaki… all right, then… so where's the third folder?"

"I was about to say that, sir," Elm said and scowled at Krane, "but I was… _interrupted. _The last one might not make such a good case if I just give some random data about her. You have to see her yourself, so I… brought her here. She's waiting outside your office."

"You brought her _here_?" Krane groaned. "I thought you, of all people, would know not to break security protocol like that!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with Dr. Krane here," Kaminko said, but his interest was obviously piqued. "You know what we have to do to her if she's not what we're looking for."

"That won't be necessary, please!" Elm said nervously, and quickly adjusted his glasses again, as the sweat on his face was causing them to drop. "I spoke with Blaine. He wasn't too happy about it, but he agreed to blindfold the girl and bring her here without her knowing anything about our location."

"That'll have to do," Kaminko said. "Bring her in."

"Kris!" Elm yelled at the door. "Come on in!"

Krane was nervous. If Elm had personally brought someone in, she had to be good so Elm could impress Kaminko. What a clever bastard. Krane also knew that he could have chosen his candidates a whole lot better, as he wasn't as thorough in his investigations as Elm.

Fortunately, Krane's fears were quelled when Elm's candidate stepped in. Kris was a young, petite green-eyed woman, approximately twenty years old. Still probably dizzy over being blindfolded, she looked jumpy and weak, as if she had not been eating properly. Her black hair was frizzy and dirty, and her clothes (a denim jacket, jeans and a red top) were all pale and worn. And that wasn't going into her bad stature and apparently poor hygiene. What exactly made her so impressive, Krane didn't know.

Kaminko seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Who is she?" he asked.

Disoriented and frightened, Kris just looked up at Elm, unsure what to say. So, Elm spoke for her.

"Sir," Elm started smarmily in order to please Kaminko, "you have to understand one thing. Kris is only a beginner, but she has already shown incredible competence. She has been working as my understudy's assistant's delivery boy's substitute for quite some time now, and she is already very Pokémon-savvy, has surprisingly good mental capabilities. With the right training, I think we can mould her into a fine agent."

"I won't be deciding this now" Kaminko said. "We'll see… either way, thank you, professor. Good work. Dismissed."

The moment Elm and Kris had walked out of the office, Krane started ranting at Kaminko:

"Sir, you can't allow this! Elm probably felt sorry for that chick or something, but you can't let him bring anyone he wants here. It's-"

"That's for me to decide!" Kaminko said sternly and stood up. Besides being Krane's superior, Kaminko was also much taller than him, making it hard for Krane to argue. "Don't forget who's in command here! Now, the next phase of your job is simple. Interview every single agent candidate. Make profiles… or something of sort, out of everyone, and bring them to me. I want to know what they _really_ think, so take your time. No hurrying about like you did last time. Also, Dr. Araragi brought a new member to the research team. I think her name was… Leaf something. Interview her as well."

"Sir!"

Krane saluted, despite it not being necessary or even encouraged. But Krane wanted to show that he knew his job, and that he would do anything in his power to do it properly.

But hopefully they didn't let that last one in. She even smelled like cheese!


	3. Psycho Analysis

_**PSYCHO ANALYSIS**_

**From the files of Doctor Paul Krane:**

As requested by Professor Kaminko (who I'm definitely not "gay towards" no matter what that stupid Blaine says), I have gathered info about members of Extranormal Operations through series of observations and discussions.

**Subject #1**

Name: _Tiffany Christine Zimmerman_, aka _Kris_

Title: _Agent 05, Extranormal Operations_

Date of Birth:_ January 18__th__, 2076_.

Birthplace: _New Bark Town_

Assigned Pokémon: _Totodile (nicknamed "Croc_"_)_

Subject shows reluctance to speak of personal matters. After repeated sessions, more and more is starting to unveil. Nevertheless, interviews with closed ones necessary. Co-workers describe subject as "hard-working but withdrawn". So far, Drill Instructor White has deemed her performance "average, acceptable". No apparent signs of any extraordinary mental abilities. Subject most likely suffering from an old trauma.

Outside of immediate family, subject has no known contacts. Only confirmed ones are family acquaintance and part-time employer Professor Elm, and possible childhood friend, Agent 09, aka Shane Stephens. Mother unemployed, father a former a sales representative, but records show that Mr. Zimmerman lost both of his eyes in an accident in 2090, and has been retired ever since. After graduation from the local Trainer School, subject studied Pokémon battling in Earl's Pokémon Academy before being fired for [quote]"asking sassy questions"[/quote]. Topic of sexuality made subject uncomfortable, and no signs of any kind of suppressed urges were found - most likely asexual.

When asked if subject had suffered from clinical depression, subject was quoted as saying: "_Stick that *censored* in your *censored* before *censored* *censored* *censored* you *censored*."_

Subject must be monitored at all times. Connections with Agent 09 must also be watched.

**Subject #2**

Name: _Lyra Allison Soul_

Title: _Agent 06, Extranormal Operations_

Date of Birth: _January 8__th__, 2076._

Birthplace: _New Bark Town_

Assigned Pokémon: _Cyndaquil (nicknamed "Scorch"_)

According to Drill Instructor White, subject shows remarkable talent in Pokémon training, firearms, hand-to-hand combat and mental synchronization. Observations show that subject is ambitious and capable. However, unlike subject #1, who eventually revealed personal info, subject #2 is reluctant to share anything, even after repeated sessions.

Past records show that after Trainer School, subject decided to become a Pokémon Trainer, and received a Pokémon from Professor Elm. We have not confirmed if subject knows agent 05. Though performance in work has been outstanding so far, co-workers have complained about alleged "bitchiness". Sexuality under dispute, another area in which info was scarce.

Must be monitored at all times. Extended sessions required.

**Subject #3**

Name: _Silver Sakaki_

Title: _Agent 07, Extranormal Operations_

Date of Birth: _November 11__th__, 2075_

Birthplace: _Cherrygrove City_

Assigned Pokémon: _Sneasel and Chikorita_

Subject shows great physical strength and determination, along with skills of commanding even multiple Pokémon at once. His mental synchronization level, on the other hand, is not as high as with Agent 05 and 06. Through interviews, it is apparent that subject lived in an orphanage until he turned 15. At that point, he started living on the streets. The origin of his Pokémon is vague - possibly stolen? Must remember to question further.

His deceased mother and missing father are obviously sore points, and should be evaded, but can be possibly used for our advantage. He is described as a quiet man, but the subject does get along reasonably well with Dr. Greene. The nature of this connection is, as of yet, unknown, but it is possible that the two share a history. Other co-workers have described him as "intimidating".

Must be monitored in case he shows signs of aggression. May require medical treatment.

**Subject #4**

Name: _Leaf Greene_

Title: _Doctor of Pokémonology, Sledge Hammer Science Team_

Date of Birth: _September 15__th__, 2075. _

Birthplace: _Pewter City_

Assigned Pokémon: _None for official purposes. Keeps an Oddish as a pet_.

Subject is the deputy head of the science team personally recommended by Dr. Araragi. She is the youngest member of the team, but graduated with excellent grades and is a great asset to the team. Status of deputy leader questionable - subject does not show qualities necessary for leadership, nor much ambition to speak of. Possibly needs to be demoted.

Psychologically, subject seems to be well-adjusted. Though she has experienced the murder of her friend, there does not seem to be any major problems concerning the subject. Members of the science team have complained about the smell of alcohol on he person - must inspect living quarters. When asked about the subject of alcoholism, subject evaded most of the questions.

Monitoring not mandatory, though further sessions might be required. Connection to agent 07 also in need of checking.

**Subject #5**

Name: _Silas Stephens_, aka _Shane_

Title: _Agent 09, Extranormal Operations_

Date of Birth: _July 1__st__, 2075_

Birthplace: _Viridian City_

Assigned Pokémon: _Sandshrew (nicknamed "Shrew")_

When positioned with a multitude of questions designed for kindergarten students, subject failed to answer any question right. When asked about motivation to join Sledge Hammer, subject responded with "_your mom_". Bizarre attempts to boost his social status speak for a case of low self-esteem, though even through repeated sessions, we have been unable to discover what drives him to act in the manner he does.

Subject shows little motivation to do even the most menial tasks, and is, according to Drill Instructor White, "hopeless". Would possibly benefit from extended training. Bond to assigned Pokémon very deep, possibly deeper than with any other agent in the program. Has been known to see local conglomerate Cheren Black - said relationship must be monitored.

Note: SUBJECT MUST BE MONITORED 24/7! Chance of leaving the Sledge Hammer HQ's perimeter and exposing the operation very high. Whether or not he is upgraded to full agent remains to be seen. Connection to agent 05 must also be observed.

**Personal note from Dr. Krane**:  
"So, these people are supposed to save the world, huh? We're lucky if we're still here tomorrow."


	4. Training Days

_**TRAINING DAYS**_

**Extranormal Operations HQ**

_6:00 AM. August 1__st__, 2096_.

After an excruciatingly long waiting period that Kris spent locked in her house, Kris finally received word that she was going to be accepted into the ENO training program. Professor Elm had given her a lift to the base, and the trip there passed in complete silence. Kris had not exactly volunteered as much as she had been made to volunteer. But what else could she do? Sit around the house and watch the Weather Channel? Boy, that would have been awesome…

But it was no use. This was something she had to do. After Earl Dervish had booted her out from the Pokémon Academy, Kris abandoned the idea of becoming a trainer. With just basic education, she could hardly even be qualified for a starter. And yet, even though professor Elm had promised to give her a Totodile, it was later revealed that he had given the Pokémon away to Sledge Hammer for research purposes. Which was why Kris was understandably mad at Elm right now.

Now, Kris was sitting in some sort of conference room. She had been issued the uniform that every ENO agent had to wear when not on operation: the standard-issue unisex Sledge Hammer uniform. Or, in other words, a blue jumpsuit with the Sledge Hammer logo printed on the chest. Hers was used and itchy, but Kris didn't mind, as it was still comfortable enough. Agents were differentiated from normal SH-staff with the red shoulder pads and kneepads sown to the jumpsuit. But she wasn't very happy to give away her jacket - sure, it was old and oversized (the sleeves covered her hands entirely), but it was still her favorite piece of clothing. She didn't feel safe when she had to stash it on the back of some locker.

When sitting on a chair, waiting for something to happen along with the other agents, Kris' struggled to keep her eyes open - waking up at 3:30 in the night wasn't exactly what she had gotten used to. Even worse, she hadn't even had her usual four cups of coffee yet. To keep her head clear, she looked around her and tried to see if she could engage in conversation with anyone - no matter how awkward, she had to speak to someone.

At the moment, there were only twelve people in the room, Kris included. But nine out of the group were apparently friends with each other, as they kept talking loudly in the back row. A few chairs behind Kris, sitting alone with his arms crossed, sulking, was man whom Kris recognized. The guy was Silver… something, who had gotten himself into the papers a few months ago after beating up three security enforcers when trying to rob the Poké Mart in Violet City. Strangely enough, he had broken in, but he had only stolen an envelope and a Potion. Nonetheless, his Sneasel had allegedly torn the face off from one the officers.

Silver had red, shoulder-length hair that also covered half of his face; black, fingerless gloves and piercing, grayish eyes. His most distinguishing feature was his face, or what was visible, anyway - he had a look on his face that made it look like he was constantly scowling. Though he didn't smile at the moment, Kris wondered if that grump ever smiled.

Looking around even further, Kris also noticed the only female in the room besides herself. She didn't pay much attention to Kris or anyone at all, simply sat straight in the chair and awaited for something to happen. She was approximately just as old as Kris, and had long brown hair and brown eyes. Kris couldn't help to notice that they shared the same hairstyle, though the girl had smooth, clean hair while Kris' was still frizzy and dirty. Though she otherwise wore the same jumpsuit as the others, her torso was also covered by some sort of orange vest, like a bulletproof armor. Kris had no idea why she bothered to wear it constantly, though perhaps she was just being unnecessarily chaste or something. Like that stuff even mattered…

Nonetheless, Kris tried talking to her:

"Umm… hi," Kris said softly to attract the girl's attention. "Do you know how long we have to wait?"

The girl turned towards Kris, but looked slightly annoyed, as if Kris had just interrupted some sort of important activity.

"How should I know?" the girl snapped at Kris.

"Oh, sorry… um, no reason, I guess…" Kris flustered. "I'm Kris, by the way. Kris Zi-"

"Yeah, you think I don't know that?" the girl said. "Kris Zimmerman, from New Bark Town."

"How did-"

"I'm Lyra. Lyra Soul. That's how. Ring any bells?"

Kris didn't want to seem rude, so she tried to think… but she really couldn't think of anyone in her life called Lyra Soul that she knew of. So, she just shrugged, which turned out to be the wrong gesture, as Lyra squinted at her.

"We were in Trainer School together!" she hissed. "Don't you remember?"

"Oh, well in that case…" Kris groaned, dismayed by the possibility that someone from her past still turned over to make her life even worse. "Let's just say that there were a lot of people who I went to Trainer School with, and _no one_ there that I want to remember. Kay, thanks, bye!"

Kris crossed her arms and turned away from Lyra, but that seemed to piss of Lyra even further, causing her to move a few chairs closer to Kris just to keep pressing on the subject.

"I knew you were still like this, Zimmerman!" she muttered so no one else would hear. "And I figured you wouldn't remember me. You're still that little freak who wouldn't talk to anyone, with those ridiculous oversized clothes and stupid questions in class! God, I really wished to find a way to _shut you up_ back then!"

"I think my bitch sensor is reacting," Kris said icily. "Now that you put it like _that_, I do remember. Lyra, the prissy daddy's girl from the rich kid group. Why the hell did you end up coming here? I thought your dad's waste management company had plenty of openings for future rejects?"

"At least I wasn't fired from Earl's Pokémon Academy," Lyra quipped. "And _I_ haven't been spending the last few years in my parents' basement, whining on the internet how life is unfair and people treat me miserably! Yeah, that's right, I know!"

Kris squeezed the chair's armrests, but couldn't really think of anything to say back at the moment. How the hell did Lyra know what she had been doing? If this was going to get personal… problem was, however, that Kris didn't really differentiate Lyra from the rest of the gang she used to hang around with.

"How's Gold doing these days, by the way?" Kris asked. "He was a real funny guy. I especially appreciated the way how he once locked me up in the school's freezer for three hours. I nearly died. Good times!"

"You could have just asked for help," Lyra said defensively, as if trying to justify everything Gold did, "but no, you were too much of a screwup to even realize calling for help. If you would have died, then that would have been social Darwinism at it's finest."

"You really know how to use terms properly, don't you?"

"But we had some good times, didn't we?" Lyra said scathingly, ignoring Kris' remark. "Remember that one particular history class after lunch? At least no one else ever forgot how that ridiculous quiet girl who no one cared about suddenly messed herself in the middle of a _freaking test_! I mean, I didn't just talk about making a mess of yourself, the whole seat was just covered in… well, you know."

Kris was in the middle of an internal struggle; she needed to decide whether to kick Lyra's teeth in or hit her with a chair, as both seemed like viable options. Did she have anything to do with it?

"You… you guys thought that was _funny_?"

Kris stood up; the school days were just a distant memory, and Lyra for all on her own, with none of her gang to help her out. But she wanted to hear the whole story, perhaps taunt Lyra even further - there would be time for fisticuffs later.

"Hey, I didn't put those laxatives in there, Gold did!" Lyra said. "But I have to say," she added, smiling obnoxiously to further agitate Kris, "it was a bit funny, yeah."

"I went all the way to Cherrygrove just to a see a doctor for that! _I thought I had some kind of disease_! And the humiliation was just… oh God!"

"Oh, so that's why you didn't show up so much after that, huh?" Lyra asked.

"You still didn't answer my question, though," Kris said, trying to ignore Lyra's last question. "Don't you know where your precious Gold is?"

"I know, but I don't care" Lyra said. "He wanted to act like a hero, so he went out like a hero. He thought he was John McClane that day or something, but trying to stop Team Rocket taking over the Radio Tower was a bit harder than just marching in and acting like he was the goddamn Batman. Oh, if it was only that the Rockets had killed him… but no, the police found him from an _air duct_! He thought crawling through them was actually good idea. Dumbass had seen too many movies…"

"You really don't care?" Kris inquired. "Even though you and all those other bitches from school acted like he was your king or something, swarming around him like a harem…"

"Hey!"

Now Lyra stood up too, having finally lost her patience. Perhaps it was something in that last sentence Kris had said, but Kris didn't mind. She was pleased to see that she could still get someone worked up like that.

"_Screw you, Zimmerman_!" Lyra yelled, accidentally spitting all over Kris. "_Harem_? What do you know? You really think I let _him_ boss me around? You really think I cared two shits about _him_? You have no idea how hard is to… to…"

"What?"

What exactly made Lyra _that_ worked up? Even Kris liked to think that she didn't usually go ballistic like that. But the whole argument was interrupted when the drill instructor finally showed up. The moment the door was opened was the moment when Kris and Lyra quickly assumed their seats, after exchanging some vicious looks with each other.

The drill instructor was not really what Kris had been expecting. She was a woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, with long, curly brown hair and blue eyes with noticeable shadows under them. She was tall and had biceps that really seemed to signal that she should not, due to the absence of appropriate words, be fucked with. She wasn't bothering with the standard uniform, either. She was wearing a white cap with a Poké Ball-logo on it, along with a white top, a black vest and blue shorts that had apparently once been jeans, but were cut short, showing her legs almost entirely.

She paid no attention to the group as she spoke loudly and confidently, without pausing or being deterred by anything:

"Sorry for the delay, had a bit of a late night. Okay, guys, I'm Lieutenant Touko White and I'm going to be your drill instructor during this training period. Before everyone start raising their hands and asking me all the usual stuff, I'll get those standard questions out of the way. One: yes, we are in fact going to start at 6 AM every day, deal with it. Two: yes, they are, in fact, real. Any questions I should actually feel like answering?"

Everyone fell silent after White's speech, but slowly, one of the young men in the back raised his hand.

"Yes, you, the shitstain on the back, what is it?" White asked.

"Just one thing…" the man said as he stood up. "Are you like, the actual drill instructor's substitute, like his wife or sister or something?"

White grinned.

"I see what you did there," she said. "Come on over, kid."

The guy looked at his friends in confusion for a bit, but as they kept urging and pushing him, he nervously walked up front towards White, who positioned herself next to the guy.

"Here at Extranormal Operations, we take pride of our agents, some who are the finest on the globe" White said, addressing everyone else in the room. "Now, you, whatever your name is - _no, I didn't ask for it, keep it to yourself_! Say you were attacked by a mugger in the middle of the night and you had no experience in close-quarters combat. What would you do?"

"Um…"

"I figured as much," White said without giving the guy even time to say anything. "I'd do something like this."

Swiftly, before the guy could even react, White grabbed his fingers and twisted them. The guy squealed out of pain and fell on his knees, but while White had almost bended his fingers all the way back, there was no sickening crunch to be heard.

"Twisting someone's fingers is a good way to start, as it usually works and isn't too hard to do," White said. "And really, that just came to me off the top of my head. Has nothing to do with any battle techniques whatsoever. Not perhaps the most honorable thing to do but… what's the mugger going to do about that? Note that I didn't even break the poor sap's fingers, even though I could have easily done that as well. Now, if you have him incapacitated, you can solve the situation pretty quickly just by doing _this_!"

Once again, before White had even finished her sentence, she kneed the guy in the groin, causing him to almost scream in pain. Everyone in the back row were starting to feel a lot less comfortable, and even Silver grimaced a bit when he saw White's knee hitting the guy's groin. As she did so, she let go of his fingers, but the guy just collapsed on his stomach while holding his groin and whimpering.

"Now, I'm going to assume that all of you read the manual you were assigned." White continued, quite conversationally after having just beat up a man. "In there, it clearly states that one should protect their vulnerable parts at all times. And yet, I don't think anyone here is wearing a cup. Are you stupid or lazy or what? What if a Hitmonlee had kicked you in there? I'm telling you, you would be having hard time pleasing your girlfriends in that case, and just as FYI, I'm not really into floppies."

Kris couldn't hold it in much longer, and had to comment on the situation.

"So what about us who aren't as… ballsy?" she asked. "Do we need to cover our junk?"

"Did I give you permission to talk?" White asked back.

"Do I need one?" Kris wondered.

"Yes."

"Well… can I talk?"

"No."

"Okay…"

Though she had a lot more to say, Kris decided that it was probably smarter to be quiet. But it was hard - not because of Lt. White's attitude, but because Lyra kept sighing and shaking her head in an extremely annoying manner that made Kris feel like punching her.

"Now, did you hear that?" White asked. "That was an efficient conversation. Not too much talking, although that question was pretty pointless to begin with. If movies have taught us anything, us ladies apparently have some sort of weak point that bad guys can just grab to instantly immobilize us. Why they never cover that weak point is beyond me. You two," she said to Kris and Lyra, "start taking notes! And you!"

The last part was meant to the guy who White had just kneed, who was still on the ground, groaning in pain.

"If you're going to be such a sissy about it, then obviously you aren't what I'm looking for," White said cheerfully. "So, once your balls have returned, get up from my floor, report to the security chief and stay out of my sight for the rest of your lifetime. We clear?"

The guy on the floor whimpered something back, and slowly got on his feet. Limping all the way through, he left the room. White started chuckling to herself.

"No one really gets sarcasm these days, huh?" she said. "Okay, people, the training will begin tomorrow, 6 AM, gather in this room. For the rest of the day, do whatever you feel like. I, personally, am going to sit in a dark corner with my sunglasses on, waiting to get rid of this damn hangover. Dismissed!"

Lazily, everyone in the room shuffled out, leaving White alone, sitting in a corner. Kris and Lyra were among the last to walk out, and Kris could see Lyra opening her mouth and preparing to argue with her again. Problem was, Kris had no interest whatsoever in doing so. So, Kris just stormed out without even giving Lyra an opportunity to make a sound.

* * *

The training period lasted for three months, and for Kris, this was the most grueling period of her life. After having "enjoyed" a life mostly void of responsibilities, she was now constantly pressured by not only Lt. White, but also by Elm. After all, if Kris didn't do well in her training, Kaminko and Krane would most likely blame the guy who hired her. Not wanting to disappoint Elm, Kris went along with the training, doing a mostly adequate job.

First up was the firing range. Every day, the agent candidates would spend two hours shooting at cardboard targets. White deemed this training to be "more suitable for kindergarten", seeing as the targets "couldn't shoot back". Personally, Kris was relieved that Kaminko had forbidden White to force agent candidates to shoot at each other.

Though the focus of the operations would be on the proper handling of Pokémon, not traditional warfare, White was insistent on teaching agents how to shoot. Now that Kris noticed it, Lt. White was never seen with a Pokémon, even though Kris had heard that White went through the same training once as well.

Less than fortunately, Kris wasn't very adept at handling weapons. They were not traditional pistols, but "blaster pistols" as dubbed by White. Besides being white and having strange futuristic engravings on the handle, they looked like normal pistols, only that they shot some sort of energy bullets that disintegrated their targets. They also had a secondary firing function - they had some sort of energy reserves drawn from the many Pokémon kept in Sledge Hammer's laboratories. Some shot fire, others shot ice, some fired hot boiling water with incredible pressure and so on. Kris' gun was of the ice-variety.

White had decided that agents candidates wouldn't need any eye or ear protection ("You won't have those on the field, why would you bother wearing them here?"), so Kris' whole body was shaking as she held the pistol with both hands. One eye closed, Kris tried to aim at the target on the far end of the range. Not only was this hard enough, but White was standing behind her, sighing and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Just take a deep breath, relax your shoulders, keep a steady aim and pull the trigger" White advised. "Even a baby could do that. And I mean literally, did you read about that daycare massacre? They even needed the National Guard to deal with that."

"You know what else would help?" Kris said. "Not having someone constantly staring at me when I'm trying to shoot!"

"Kris, I gave you the gun twenty seconds ago," White said, checking her watch. "If this were a real combat situation, there would be more bullets in your body than there are organs!"

"And if this _was_ a real combat situation, I probably wouldn't be standing out in the open where everyone can see me."

"Why would anyone _want_ to see _you_?" asked Lyra, who had just readied her own gun, of the fire-spewing type.

Kris bit her lip to avoid saying anything back, but she couldn't help to notice that when Lyra still hadn't fired a single shot, but was still pretending to 'getting to know her gun'. But arguing with Lyra would be pointless in this situation, so Kris turned around to face the target and aimed.

"Don't bother thinking!" White advised. "Just shoot!"

"I'm glad that law enforcement knows its priorities…"

White seemed to have an answer ready that, too, but she was interrupted by the screams of pain coming from nearby - one of the young agent candidates had collapsed on the floor and was holding his hand over his badly burnt face. The lack of protective eyewear didn't seem to stop his friend from trying to imitate Travis Bickle right next to him… with predictable results.

"Morons!" White scolded the shooter and his currently one-eyed friend. "The targets are over there! Report to the medic and then get your asses out of here!"

But Silver, who was among the first to get his own weapon, didn't seem to have any troubles. Calmly and quietly, he kept firing at the cardboard targets, only requiring two or three shots to destroy them completely. New ones kept popping up for Silver to destroy them, and Kris forgot her own targets completely as she stared at Silver's performance. Even White, who had just walked past Silver, didn't seem to have anything to complain about.

Obviously wanting to prove that she had gifts too, Lyra readied her gun and took careful aim.

"All right, you piece of condensed, heavy-duty paper," she muttered to herself. "Make my day!"

But Lyra was too focused on trying to look good while shooting that she had completely ignored the recoil, which caused her to miss her target and fire at the lamp hanging a few feet above it. Lyra looked like she was ready to burst into tears.

"Good job, Soul!" White remarked as she passed by. "We really were having troubles with those bloodthirsty lamps."

Kris couldn't help but to smile a bit, even though White soon returned to her and started lecturing about Kris not hitting her own targets.

* * *

When not on the firing range, Kris, Lyra, Silver and the remaining agent candidates did whatever Lt. White came up with. Whether it was wrestling during a downpour or running circles around the yard, White seemed to think that there wasn't an activity that didn't build character. At least Elm occasionally stepped in to stop White from giving overly crazy orders, like when she was about to order Lyra to clean the ovens with a toothbrush - while the chef was still baking food with them.

When not suffering through physical training, the group sat in the same conference room where they had first gathered, listening to various lectures. The base's security chief was called Blaine, a former scientist who specialized in genetic engineering. Blaine (whose first name was a mystery to most) was a man in his early fifties. He was completely bald, but had a thick brown moustache. Though he was rarely seen around the labs, he always wore a lab coat over his suit, and he was never seen without his sunglasses. His loud, growling voice was easy to identify, as was his trademark quirk of constantly looking around him and trying to make sure his back was against the wall, not against windows or any kind of empty space. Most of Blaine's lectures were about the importance of espionage.

"If you are _really_ looking forward to becoming agents," Blaine said during one of his classes, "and when I say _really_, I mean _reeeeeaallllyy_. And by that I mean that you are dedicated to this cause… then, you must remember one key rule: you are ghosts; you were never on the scene. If we ask around, no one has seen you. One way or another, your responsibility is to make sure of that! Be wise. Be safe. Be _aware_! Really, I can't stress this enough! The man's always looking forward to bringing us down, trying to expose us, but we know better…"

Blaine's lessons mostly consisted of him rambling and occasionally throwing pencils at people asking stupid questions. To stark contrast, Professor Elm's lectures about Pokémon biology and behavioral patterns mostly consisted of him grabbing a book and reading it to everyone, expecting them to take notes. Problem was, he stuttered often, and whenever someone asked him a question, his voice faded away and he started sweating. Both him and Blaine seemed to know their stuff - it was just too bad that they were inept at sharing their knowledge to others.

Add to that the mandatory visits to the gym that Kris loathed and usually tried to get out of, things weren't exactly positive. Kris couldn't get into contact with anyone, and yet she didn't get any privacy either. All agent candidates slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the warehouse, and between the little free time they had and the constant lessons, only the bathrooms and the showers were places where one could be alone, even for a little while. It was no wonder that between waking up around five AM and finishing her lessons around 6 PM, Kris just crawled into her sleeping bag and, well, slept.

But what else could she do? Kris had agreed to join this little club originally just to be nice to Elm, who had offered Kris a job out of the goodness of his heart earlier. And now it was too late to regret - though agent candidates weren't allowed to go anywhere, they were still forbidden to leave the perimeter of the base, which turned incredibly frustrating. Especially whenever there was a sale at GameStop.

* * *

_11:00 AM, November 1__st__, 2096_

But perhaps it was all worth it after all. Sure, it was Saturday afternoon when White suddenly announced that the training had finally come to an end. So Kris thought anyway. There was a lot of excited whispering amongst the candidates, as everyone that hadn't been fired by Lt. White gathered in the same room. White herself stepped into the room a few minutes afterwards, which promptly shut everyone up. The overpowering aroma of liquor soon filled the entire room.

"God, Saturday mornings are a bitch, huh?" she yawned while flexing her arms. "What time is it… whoa! Crap, I was supposed to wake up a bit… earlier… oh well…"

Unlike usually, White wasn't yelling at people and bossing them around, but was rather disoriented, apparently after another night of clubbing. Kris decided that it would be too stupid to ask whether this meant glamorous discos or beating people up on the streets for fun. Most likely, it was both.

"It's been a hard three months and stuff…" White mumbled, though everyone could still hear her just fine. "So now it's time to, uh, reap the results. Yeah. All of you who I didn't throw out passed basic training, that I can tell. So as of today, you are all agents working for Extranormal Operations. However…"

There was no whispering in the air now, seeing as everyone was tensely awaiting for White to continue her sentence. White yawned again and started scratching her head carelessly for a moment, until she seemed to get a grip of the situation. She cleared her throat and continued:

"…so, however," she said, now much more firmly, "not all of you have what it takes to become first-level Operatives. Your training, your lessons, those psych evaluations, the blood samples we took-"

"When was this?" Lyra asked, raising her hand so she wouldn't seem too rude.

"Well, just asking isn't going to get us any results," White said, "so we filled that warehouse you were sleeping in with sleeping gas and took some samples then. Why else would we put you all in the same room? Anyway, after those brainiacs on the more glamorous building over there analyzed all your data, and all of it has led to a number of candidates being chosen. Those three will soon be told _everything_. Now… where the hell did I put my list?"

White started going through her pockets, and pulled a handful of stuff out of there: change, coins for the Game Corner, sticks of gum, contraceptives and, curiously enough, a round, white object that resembled the other half of a split Poké Ball. Kris tried to get a good glimpse of it, but once White had found the piece of paper she was looking for, she hastily put all the stuff in the pockets of her shorts again.

"All right!" she said, and started to read out loud. "The following candidates have been chosen for Advanced Training and have been given the honor of joining the ranks of first-level Operatives… oh yeah, and once I say your names, you need to walk out of the room and wait outside. Sakaki, Silver!"

Silver stood up, and once again, his face was utterly expressionless. White pointed at the door, and Silver walked out of the room nonchalantly.

"Soul, Lyra!"

Unlike Silver, Lyra had a hard time covering her enthusiasm. She practically leaped out of her chair and stormed towards the door. Kris became nauseous due to this sight.

"And finally… Zimmerman, Kris!"

Kris barely believed what she had heard, and at first, just stood still and looked around her, expecting someone else to stand up and walk out of the room. But White was staring at her expectantly. Was this really it? Kris had achieved barely average results during basic training and didn't really consider herself to be adept at anything. And yet… _she _had been chosen. Not the others.

So, she slowly walked out of the room, followed by White, who was still yelling orders to the others left behind:

"Now, don't start groaning there!" White snapped at them. "Just because these three did a little, nay, a _lot_ better than you morons, that doesn't mean that you're completely worthless. The security chief will be here shortly, and he will induct you to our security personnel training program. Yes, all of you will have the glory to defend this base if and when the poop hits the paddles. See ya!"

Once Kris and White walked out of the room, Lyra flinched, as if she didn't really believe that Kris was chosen alongside her. Throughout the training process, Lyra was pathetically trying to improve her standing to make herself seem superior. It looked like it had worked to some extent, but Kris couldn't help but to smile, seeing as Lyra had tried so hard to be better than Kris, and yet they were still at the same level.

Kris, Lyra and Silver followed White across the corridors, down the stairs and into another corridor from the door on the right. At the end of this corridor, there was a locked door. For three months, Kris had been itching to try and open it, even though agent candidates were restricted to one building. Now, White used her personal keycard to open this door, allowing Kris, Lyra and Silver free access to the second building.

"We like to keep candidates away from the rest of the staff," White explained as the group walked towards the _official_ Sledge Hammer HQ. "For your own safety, of course, but mostly because the bosses are kinda dicks. Nothing personal. But now that you're close to being Operatives, you can walk anywhere you want. Well, almost."

"Ma'am?" Lyra said, which seemed to annoy White, but Lyra wanted to follow protocol. "Pardon me for asking, but what do you mean 'close to being' Operatives?"

"Because you start your advanced training next Monday," White said. "And don't call me ma'am, it sounds stupid. What's wrong with 'Lieutenant'?"

The moment the group stepped into the actual, _official_ building where Kaminko, Krane, Elm and most of the staff worked in, everything seemed like from a completely different world. The floor was actually waxed, there were no Rattata running around the hollow walls… it even smelled better. White guided Kris, Lyra and Silver into an elevator.

Kris believed that they were going to see Kaminko or some other bigshot, but instead, the elevator started to descend. It didn't stop at ground floor, though, but went even lower than that, to the underground parts of the base.

The elevator doors soon opened, and the group stepped into a tall room, bigger than anything on the surface, explaining the necessity of building the place underground. Thanks to proper temperature and air conditioning, there was no way to tell that the place was underground, apart from the lack of windows. But this was compensated by an enormous TV screen placed in the middle of the room. Operating on a computer quite near the screen was a skinny, bespectacled and pimple-faced young man, who didn't seem to pay attention to the group arriving into the room, just typed on his computer. He wasn't fat, but in Kris' opinion, he fit into every other possible nerd stereotype in existence.

"Yo, Celio!" White yelled at the nerd. "I have company here, so close that porn site and come say hello!"

"Gee, that's a great idea," Celio said scathingly. "I'll just get off my seat and waltz all the way there to make pleasant conversation with people who I most likely won't bother liking anyway and leave my post just so the feds can hack into our systems and bug the whole place!"

"This ladykiller here is Celio," White said. "I never bothered to find out his last name. He's our electronics, communications and intelligence officer, whose job is to find intelligence on other people while making sure that other people don't find intelligence on us. Or, to put it simply, his job is to sit there and pretend he's working."

"ECI Officer just sounds so much better than 'the standard computer guy'," Celio said.

"Oh, and to brief you, here's the head of our science team, the honorable Doctor Toshiko Araragi!" White announced. "Roll out the red carpet, everyone!"

Two people entered the scene. The other was professor Elm, cowering in the presence of Dr. Araragi, the resident Pokémon Professor of Isshu who had quit her job just to join the other minds of the Sledge Hammer Intelligence Team. Araragi was a woman in her late forties, though this was hardly noticeable at first, as most would notice her startlingly blue eyes and her silky, brown hair at first, then paying attention to her rather casual attire; besides her lab coat, Araragi's outfit wasn't very scientific, what with the red earrings, the white top and the unfortunately short green skirt. Araragi didn't seem to mind the attention, as she was smiling upon meeting the trio.

"So these are the new Operatives, huh?" she said before White could say anything. She then shook hands with Kris, Lyra and Silver. "Nice to finally meetcha! Sorry about all this secrecy and protocol and stuff, but hey, that's the way the boss wants it. Uh, Touko, you can go now!"

White was slightly annoyed when she was talked at like that, but couldn't really do anything about it. As such, she turned tail and returned to the elevator. Araragi didn't seem to mind, though. Quite in contrast to everyone, Araragi was rather cheerful and constantly smiling as she started walking towards another part of the room, with Elm, Kris, Lyra and Silver following her.

"…and this door leads to one of the labs," she narrated while showing the group around. "Must be exciting to finally see this place in full. I mean, I wouldn't even dream of spending three months isolated from everything else! How did you manage? Oh, well, it's over now, and you're basically free to waltz around the perimeter all you like… oh, at the other side of the room, there's Ein's office. Dr. Ein is the other staff physician. Bit of a weirdo, but he knows how to write prescriptions, I can tell you that! Ahem… anyway, right, let's get into the lab I was about to show you. Elm, you can come too!"

The "lab" that Araragi referred to was more like an office, being cramped full of stuff. Most of the space was occupied by Professor Elm's healing machine and various computer terminals. Another, younger female scientist was working on one, and she had apparently not noticed Araragi's group walking in.

"Leaf!" Araragi said loudly to attract the scientist's attention.

Startled by Araragi, Leaf almost fell over. When she recognized who had spoken, Leaf jumped up and nervously started babbling:

"I'm sorry, Doctor Araragi, I knew this was your workspace… I just wanted to check a few things… I'll get off your way-"

"Hey, don't worry about it!" Araragi said. "Kids - and Elm - this is Leaf Greene… I'm sorry, _Doctor_ Leaf Greene, the youngest person in this facility to have a doctorate. She graduated just recently, and though she has only been here for a few months, they already made her the second-in-command of the science team!"

Leaf Greene had brown hair like Araragi, but unlike Araragi's chignon-hairstyle, Leaf's hair was straight, hanging down to her waist, but quite tangled and messy. Also, unlike Araragi, Leaf had buttoned her lab coat, and otherwise seemed to care about formalities more than her. Leaf didn't look at anyone, merely waved her hand at their direction, though more because of impatience rather than shyness. Neither Kris nor Lyra bothered to say anything to her. Someone else, however, did bother.

"Nice to see you again, Leaf!"

This was Silver. People heard him talking so rarely that Kris even searched around for the source of the sound until she realized who was talking. Silver even smiled a bit, but Leaf crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"Yes, I know you are here, Silver, I saw the reports" Leaf said without making eye contact with Silver.

"Um… did we miss something?" Elm asked.

"Just ancient history, professor" Silver remarked, being uncharacteristically polite. "Thought it seems that only one of us is mature enough to acknowledge this…"

"Doctor Araragi, may I be excused or something?" Leaf asked.

"You can stay if you want, Leaf" Araragi said, oblivious to the tension between Leaf and Silver. "Elm was just about to give our new Operatives their new Pokémon!"

"Uh… I was?" Elm asked.

"Uh huh" Araragi laughed. "It seems like I have been talking for an eternity and you haven't said a thing. C'mon!"

Elm cleared his throat, squeezed past the various machines, tables and bookshelves in the room and made his way next to a table. On the table were three Poké Balls, and the whole situation seemed awfully nostalgic to Kris for some reason… like she had lived this through before…

"I'm supposed to give the standard speech, I suppose, so here goes…" Elm said. "Welcome, new Operatives. You have been chosen for the Advanced Training Program. After another three-month-period, you will-"

"Another three months!" Kris groaned. "When will this training end?"

"Quiet, Zimmerman, you idiot!" Lyra hissed and looked around her in embarrassment, as if expecting Araragi or some other high-ranking official to boot them for speaking when not spoken to.

But Araragi just laughed.

"Trust me, kiddo," she said. "It won't be nearly as boring as the last one. For one, there will be less of that Lieutenant White!"

"Can I continue?" Elm said. "Anyway, after the Advanced Training period is over, you will become Extranormal Operatives, and you will begin the crusade against the evils in the world!"

Kris rolled her eyes and Araragi tried to keep herself from bursting into laughter, but everyone else seemed to take Elm's speech seriously.

"By agreeing to join our organization, you have been given our trust, and we expect you not to let us down," Elm continued. "By joining us, you have also sacrificed a part of your freedom - official Extranormal Operatives are only allowed to leave the perimeter when on a mission, and are strictly forbidden from discussing any of the secrets mentioned here. Agents are not allowed to contact civilians through any means, be it telephone, letter or internet. But, here's something that will make up for that!"

That last bit was thrown in by Elm himself, obviously, but he wanted to make sure that the operatives were at least a little enthusiastic.

"Oh, it's like I'm a regional professor again," Elm sighed. "Anyway, these three Poké Balls all contain a… well, obviously enough, there's a Pokémon inside. But you're not allowed to choose, but rather, we have taken the liberty to choose the Pokémon that best go along with your personalities! Lyra, you start, go on ahead and touch the one on the left!"

Lyra gently touched the appropriate Poké Ball, and it instantly popped open. A Cyndaquil popped out, and it immediately started sniffing the air around it. Its perpetually closed eyes and the flames erupting from its back were its most distinguishing features.

"This is… mine?" Lyra asked.

"Yup" Elm said. "You don't have to deal with those Sentret and Caterpie and whatnot anymore. This and all the others ones have been bred to be perfect, specifically for our cause."

"Through generations of inbreeding, I might add" Araragi said. "But hey, they're Pokémon, so it doesn't really matter. I forgot to mention, that if you people are going to be members of this team, you are going to do stuff you ain't gonna be proud of. You know, just throwing this out here."

"Well, we don't do unethical experiments here, I can assure you that" Elm said, while glancing nervously at Araragi. "Go on, try and call it. It's been tagged and it should obey you, seeing as you have an excellent track record when it comes to training."

"Go on, jump down!" Lyra said to the Cyndaquil. "Follow me!"

But the Cyndaquil was more timid than Lyra had thought, and it turned its back on her. Even after repeating her requests, being louder and louder all the time, the Cyndaquil refused to obey. So, Lyra had to recall it into its Poké Ball. Elm seemed quite fascinated by its behavior.

"Interesting…" he pondered. "I may need to study it a bit further. I am currently writing a paper on Pokémon evolution - specifically, about how Pokémon growth and evolution differs if the Pokémon follows its owner around instead of spending all its time in a Poké Ball. Okay, well, Kris, your turn! Yours is the one in the middle."

Wondering what her first Pokémon was going to be, Kris touched the next Poké Ball. A bright flash of light later, a Totodile popped out. But unlike the Cyndaquil, the Totodile was more enthusiastic. The moment it got out, it started to dance and jump around the table, then jumped down and started running around the lab.

"Hey!"

Elm tried to snatch the Totodile from the floor, but it merely laughed and dodged Elm's arms. It sneaked behind Elm, and sank its sharp teeth into Elm's leg.

Elm bit his teeth together and closed his eyes, but perhaps he had decided that it was too unprofessional to start screaming, so instead, he was reduced to a whisper:

"_Ouch_. Please, Kris. Get. It. Off."

"Totodile!" Kris called the Pokémon. "Let go of the professor's leg, willya? It can't taste very good. Come on, over here!"

But Totodile only bit harder, and even seemed to smile as it did it. Perhaps it just didn't realize that Elm was actually in horrible pain, and that it was just being playful. When Totodile refused to obey Kris despite repeated attempts, Kris had to recall her Pokémon as well. Once Totodile was off his leg, Elm let out a relieved sigh, and tried to maintain his professionalism, though he did walk with a slight limp.

"Finally," he said, signaling that the last incident was supposed to be forgotten, "we would have a Chikorita for you, Silver. But, unfortunately… well, see for yourself! Touch the Poké Ball."

Silver tapped the Poké Ball on the left, but while it popped open, nothing came out of it.

"The Chikorita got stolen a while ago," Elm lamented, "and I haven't been able to get a new one, so-"

"Don't worry, doc" Silver said casually. "I happen to have a Chikorita of my own."

"Oh… that's… oddly coincidental" Elm said.

"Cosmic, ain't it?" Silver said and grinned, causing Leaf to snort loudly. "Oh, and I also have a Sneasel I managed to sneak past security. So I think I'm set. And at least they obey me."

"Are you insinuating something?" Lyra asked, offended and annoyed to her limit.

"Umm… no," Silver said innocently. "I was being pretty straightforward, I think…"

"Okay, calm down!" Araragi said. "It's like Dawson's Creek in here. We all have our problems, 'kay? Now, Elm, continue!"

"Oh… sure," Elm said. "Good news is that you don't have to worry about sleeping in that warehouse anymore. Go back to the ENO building and take the elevator down one level from the ground floor. You will find quarters specifically built for ENO agents. Each of you will have your own room, and Lt. White will supply you with your personal keycards. That way you will get around and we can… well, to put it honestly, we can track your movements. And… that's about it. Pokémon Training will begin next Monday, so you can work on that whole obedience thing… oh, and dismissed!"

Leaf was the first one to exit the room, and Kris could see that her face was bright red after the encounter with Silver. The moment Leaf was gone, Silver stopped grinning and was his own, expressionless self, going back into what Kris liked to call 'perma-scowl mode'. Lyra also didn't want to hang around after her Cyndaquil had embarrassed her, so she was quick to exit as well. Kris was among the last to exit the room, as she had a ton of questions spinning in her head.

Lt. White had given her, Lyra and Silver new instruction pamphlets that told more about the organization she now worked for. But she had received way too much info for one day. All she basically had to know was that she was going to become some sort of operative, perhaps some sort of muscle to Kaminko's little organization. But beyond that, Kris didn't have a clue. What the hell was she fighting for?

Then again, did she need to know? Her main issue was her Totodile. Besides being generally disobedient and prone to randomly dancing around, it seemed to have developed a taste for flesh. _That_ was what she was going to start out with? _That_ was what she was supposed to use to fight crime or whatever the plan was?

What a crappy job. And with phones, letters and laptops forbidden, she couldn't even complain… um, _tell_ anyone about it. Though there was only one person who would listen to her anyway. Perhaps it wouldn't so bad to bend the rules a little… just this once.

On her way to the elevator, Kris saw Dr. Leaf Greene briefly talking with the computer nerd, Celio. And, on Celio's desk, there was indeed a cellphone, just waiting to be snatched. It seems that the ECI Officer was not concerned with the rules so much. And it would be easy to just distract the guy...

Screw protocol.


	5. Hobson's Choice

_**HOBSON'S CHOICE**_

_November 10th, 2096_

It was late night when Kris, Lyra and Silver were brought into a large, arena-like room somewhere in the various basement floors of the Sledge Hammer HQ. None of them were speaking to each other, or had spoken anything at all for the last few hours. The last thing Kris remembered was stepping into the office of the staff physician, Ein, for her "checkup". But for some reason, she, Lyra and Silver all had bandages wrapped around their heads. In the big arena, the only other people amongst them were Lt. White and Professor Elm.

"It was about time!" White reprimanded the trio the moment they arrived. "You were in recovery, not in the break room! We have a timetable to work with here, people!"

"Wuh… what happened?" a disoriented Lyra stuttered, then sat on the floor to hold her head.

"Don't worry, you'll feel better in a few minutes," said Elm.

Kris was also not feeling particularly well. Her headache was only mild, but she felt nauseous and saw everything in a bit of a blur. She closed her eyes and sat down, which helped instantly.

"Professor, could you explain something?" Kris asked, still keeping her eyes shut. "First of all, why is it dark outside, even though we went to see the doctor this morning?"

"If you'd have actually read the contract you signed, you would know that every ENO Operative goes through implant surgery after starting their second training period!" White said.

"Funny, I don't remember seeing anything like that in the contract…" Silver muttered.

"You just have to read between the lines!" said White, and demonstrated it by holding a copy of the contract up. "And I mean literally," she added. "I didn't know there was a font size this small! Really surprised me when I joined as well."

"Ein is a competent surgeon," Elm said, still attempting to justify an involuntary surgery in his mind. "Besides, we didn't do it for fun, or to tamper with your brain, or anything. We installed amps that we like to call PokéPower amps. Well, okay, it was me who came up with the name, but anyway. In close co-development with Professor Hastings, we created a prototype based on the technology that the Ranges use in their Capture Stylers. You have been given a limitless possibility: you can now use Pokémon attacks on your own, with the aid of those personal Pokétch-devices we gave you, of course."

"You're kidding, right?" said Kris. "That really just sounds like out of some lame fanfic. So, what next, we save the world, suffer long periods of angst and have lots of poorly described sex?"

"If only," White said. "But before you start bitching about it, notice that none of you have the necessary qualifications to use such powers. You haven't synchronized with your Pokémon well enough. Which is exactly why we brought you three here."

"Hmph! This is just a joke," Silver scoffed. "I can see why _these_ two would need amps like that," he said, nodding in the direction of Kris and Lyra, "but I am perfectly qualified in commanding my Pokémon, shooting a gun and killing a man by making him choke on his own elbow. I don't need this!"

"And I don't need this crap…" White sighed. "You, Elm, the professor dude guy! Take over for me, all right? You know the drill. I just don't want to listen to anymore complaining…"

Elm didn't have time to come up with an objection, and White had already left the room before Elm finally shrugged and turned to face the three disoriented Operatives.

"Once you're feeling better, we're going to start your Pokémon training!" Elm said cheerfully. "Yes, the moment you have all been waiting for! Isn't that fun?"

"Isn't White an operative also?" Kris wondered. "Did she undergo this surgery?"

"Well, naturally," Elm said. "She, as agent two, along with agent one, were the first to become operatives, after all, and before you finish your training, they were also the only ones…"

"Were?" Silver said, raising his eyebrow a bit.

"Yes, well, that's really a story for another time…" Elm said, and nervously pulled up his glasses. "We really need to start your training…"

But Kris and Silver kept pushing Elm to start talking, and even the normally quite complacent Lyra was curious.

"All right, all right, fine!" Elm said to shut them up. "Long story short: Touko White was among the first people we recruited, along with a friend of hers, Touya… sheesh, I already forgot his last name! Anyway, Krane was the one who discovered them. They were both extremely good trainers from Isshu. They were in a double battle against another young couple… and believe it or not, it was Touko's and Touya's Tsutarja and Pokabu against the other couple's Gyarados and a Skarmory. Touko and Touya won the match in three minutes. You could imagine why Krane took an interest…"

"So, after becoming Operatives, we obviously sent them on a mission. Their hometown, Kirakusa, was under attack by some terrorists or whatever, so we could get the best reaction out of them and really test them to see what they were capable of. But… something happened there. Touya kindasorta died. Possibly. He went MIA, that's for sure. White got out, but she never really recovered. Which is why we made her the drill instructor instead of putting her on any missions."

"But enough of this now. It's all ancient history, and I'm sure she'll make a full recovery sooner or later!" Elm said optimistically, putting on the most awkward and forced smile imaginable. "Your Pokémon training can begin now, but first, let's have some _fun_! Let's agree to have a training match, eh? One-on-one, let's see… Silver! You versus… Kris!"

"Whoop-de-doo…"

A few minutes later, Elm and Lyra were standing on the sidelines, preparing for the battle between Silver and Kris. Silver had agreed on using Sneasel, as the type advantage of his Chikorita would have been devastating. Kris briefly glanced at Lyra, who was biting her nails while spectating. Was she really anxious, hoping Kris to win? Or was she looking forward to see Kris defeated so she could feel superior? Either way, Kris didn't care very much. She just wanted to get the whole thing taken care of so she could retreat to her room, where she had stashed the stolen phone under the doormat - no one would ever look there!

Whereas Silver's Sneasel was flexing its muscles and sharpening its claws to the floor, Kris' Totodile didn't even seem to realize it was about to battle - it just randomly walked around and snapped its jaws at people.

"Cant we get this over with?" Silver asked. "My Sneasel is one battle away from a victory streak of one hundred!"

"Well, you know what they say," Kris said, in attempt to retort, "pride comes before autumn!"

"What?"

"Yeah… that's what your mom said!"

"She's dead, Kris."

"You really aren't giving me much to work with here… okay, let's begin!"

"Sneasel, Fury Swipes!"

Kris would have expected a short pause before beginning, just so she could get ready. But Silver wasn't very big on formalities. Instead, Sneasel started charging towards Totodile with amazing speed - its feet barely touched the ground as it lunged towards Totodile. The tips of Sneasel's claws glowed white as it started scratching Totodile all over.

"Totodile, dodge, do something!"

Sadly, '_do something_' was not a valid command, so Totodile was even more confused than usual, not that it would listen to Kris anyway. It finally managed to get away from the reach of Sneasel's claws, but Sneasel started chasing it around the arena.

"No!" Kris yelled. "Umm… use Water Gun!"

But Totodile kept running away in panic. It and Sneasel circled the arena a few times over, as Sneasel was constantly trying to sink its claws into Totodile's squishy tissue - which would probably make anyone panic.

"Wow, this has got to be a new record or something," said Silver, who had been staring a stopwatch throughout the entire 'battle'. "Okay, Sneasel, I think you burned enough calories for the day. Let's get this over with. Faint Attack!"

This proceeded to be the most humiliating move that was ever pulled on Kris. Sneasel stopped chasing Totodile, who happily collapsed on the ground, exhausted. After it pulled itself up, Sneasel pointed to something nonexistent on the side. The exhausted Totodile turned its head in the direction, and Sneasel immediately punched the distracted Totodile out cold, effectively ending the battle.

"Is it over already?" Elm groaned silently, perhaps to avoid having to watch the humiliating battle. "Fine, fine… Totodile is unable to battle! Silver has won and so forth."

Sneasel looked exhilarated over its triumph, but it didn't have much time to celebrate, as Silver simply recalled it into the Poké Ball without even bothering to compliment it.

"Okay then," Elm said. "Nicely done, Silver. You can go for now. You too, Lyra. Kris, you stay here for a minute, kay?"

Kris groaned, but nevertheless picked up her injured Totodile and held in her arms, waiting for Lyra and Silver to exit the room. Elm didn't look angry, but he was flustering, twitching and adjusting his glasses as always when he was agitated, which annoyed Kris to no end.

"Pardon my French, but _que diable fais-tu_?" he snapped. "Kris, I thought you were more than capable of standing your ground in a battle!"

"Uh… hello?" Kris snarled.

It was bad enough that she was tired and had just received an implant on her brain, but Kris really didn't have patience for Elm's complaining right now.

"In case you have forgotten, that was my first trainer battle!" Kris said. "Ever! I only have battled wild Pokémon before, and now you put me up against some guy who already has a year's worth of experience? What the cripes?"

"Well, I presumed that you would at least do better than _that_," Elm whined. "If Kaminko hears of this, he might sack me. And don't get me started on what they'll do to you! Listen, the training begins properly tomorrow, and you better become real good real fast, or else I can't be held responsible for what they do to you!"

"I don't think I like this new asshole-rendition of you, professor," Kris said in a completely deadpan tone.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry…" Elm sighed, trying to calm himself down a bit. "Just take that as a warning, okay? Now, I suggest that you visit the infirmary to heal Totodile. Keep it out of your Poké Ball from now on, by the way. I'm doing a little study, to try and see if Pokémon become better fighters if kept constantly out of them, or if they get to relax inside."

"Croc."

"What?"

"It's Totodile's nickname," Kris said. "Killer Croc might be a bit too long, but after training, I'm sure that my Totodile will be as vicious as him."

"As who?"

"Forget it…"

_

* * *

_

_An hour later_…

Kris had retreated into her private quarters. In the underground sections of the Sledge Hammer base, there was an area resembling a hotel corridor, with plenty of futuristic, automatic doors leading to cramped rooms. This was where Operatives working for Extranormal Operations lived in when not working. Though most of the staff could leave and go as they wished, it was security's job to keep the Operatives (of which there were currently four) inside the base when off-duty. The implants in the Operatives made them a valuable asset to the organization - too valuable to lose. Sacrificing their personal freedom didn't bother Kris, Lyra, Silver or White, as they were committed to the cause.

Though the new law regarding personal internet use made getting info even more difficult than before, most people still found it fairly easy to get online. This is why Sledge Hammer took extra precaution to prevent any kind of information leaking. Every room was accompanied with a TV, a bed, a cupboard for personal items and a bathroom. And that was about all that was needed. Kris was currently having problems with the bureaucrats when trying to get all her stuff shipped into her room.

But none of that was important right now. As Kris lay on her bed, she couldn't care less about the state of the world or even her stuff, as she desperately needed someone to talk to. Holding Celio's cell phone in her hand, she quickly dialed the only number she needed to remember.

Dialing was a bit difficult, as she kept constantly looking at the door, expecting someone to storm in and take the phone from her. She had made sure no one had noticed a thing… but she knew she didn't have much time. Plus, Croc kept jumping around the room and was trying to bite the phone out of her hand.

"Hey! Stop it!" Kris said, whispering sharply.

The Totodile stopped bothering her, and instead danced happily into the bathroom. A few seconds later, Kris heard the sound of water running, presumably Croc swimming in the sink. Kris sighed, finished dialing and called.

"Come on… pick up…" she whispered to herself, preparing to hide the phone if necessary.

_

* * *

_

_Meanwhile, in a single-bedroom apartment in Viridian City_

Shane Stephens, titled the "village idiot of Viridian", "he-who-pisses-us-off" and "never heard of him and leave me alone, I'm watching porn!" by the residents, was currently relaxing in the broom closet-sized apartment that his parents had bought for him just so they could get rid of him temporarily. Life was good as the 21-year old Shane worked as a delivery boy's assistant in the local Poké Mart. Basically, his job consisted of hanging around Pallet Town and giving free samples to trainers leaving from there. Since most of the trainers were minors, the Poké Mart was seriously considering of changing its marketing strategy after the local law enforcers saw Shane chasing a twelve-year-old boy around, desperately trying to give him a Potion.

This scruffy, almost cartoonishly dimwitted man had blonde hair, blue eyes with noticeable bags under them, and had the build of a Japanese schoolgirl. If asked, he would describe himself as a "lovable goof". Others (as in those that even cared) called him an "insufferable jackass", but Shane believed that this just showed the camaraderie between him and the townspeople.

Either way, at least he had someone to keep him company and to prevent him from killing himself because of the various electrical sockets and other hazards in his apartment - his clumsy, cowardly Sandshrew, imaginatively nicknamed "Shrew".

Shrew was currently insulating everything electricity-related so Shane would stop almost killing himself when trying to cook, while Shane enjoyed the latest offerings of reality television.

"_Coming up next in 'People To Laugh At So We Can Feel Good About Ourselves',_" said the woman on TV, reporter/host Gabby Donnelly, "_we have… well, the freak wanted to remain anonymous… anyway, who feels that he has been discriminated against when he was forbidden from marrying his Gardevoir. Here's what he had to say:_"

"_The Committee is making a mockery of my value system! Surely, what I do to_ my _Pokémon is_ my _business, isn't that right, Gardevoir? Hey, look at the camera! I SAID LOOK AT THE CAMERA! Don't make me… wait, is that sirens I hear_?"

"_Um… it seems we're experiencing some technical difficulties now, so let's cut to commercials. After the break, I will say the exact same thing only slightly differently while we loop the clip. If we have any viewers left, that is…_"

"It takes all kinds," Shane said to Shrew, "but before you get any ideas, let me just stress that our relationship is purely platonic! We've only known each other for a few months now, so chill! Sheesh… where did you put the remote?"

Shrew squeaked something as a response and repeated its own name as usual, but Shane liked to pretend that he understood, and probably believed in it himself at this point.

"Oh, come on!" Shane groaned. "Okay, so tasting that battery was probably a bad idea, but it's not like I'll do the same mistake twice! Show me where you hid it, please, I can feel the commercials rotting my brain! Hey, what's that noise?"

Unable to find the remote, Shane kicked his TV to silence it, then started listening intently to the distinct ringing sound coming from nearby. After a few seconds of thinking, he arrived to the only rational conclusion:

"It's World War Five! Shrew, quickly, barricade the door! I'll assume a fetal position immediately! Go, go, go!"

But Shrew remained calm, and soon crawled to Shane, holding Shane's phone in his mouth. Shane snatched the phone away and pretended that his freakout never happened.

"Not a word… I mean, a squeak to anyone, got it? Now, who might it be. Maybe a telemarketer, those guys are always fun to talk to." Shane answered the phone. "Hello?"

"_Shane, it's Kris."_

Shane almost stepped on Shrew's tail as he excitedly rushed on his stained sofa and took a comfortable seat, expecting to prepare for another five-hour call. Not that he minded - he hadn't heard from Kris in months.

"Holy cripes, Kris!" he yelled, trying to cool himself down. "There's so much to tell you to. You will never believe all the things that have happened to me over these past months!"

"_Well, I guess I could say the sa-_"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure life in your parents' basement has been exciting, but _I_ am actually living in an apartment. It's a…" Shane looked around his pad, which didn't last long. "…this multi-story mansion on the outskirts of town. Oh, here comes Manuel with my drinks now. Over here!"

"_Uh huh. But listen, I-_"

"Oh, and I have to tell you. I went on a walk, then I got lost and found myself in Diglett's Cave. After shrieking from terror… I mean, bravely comforting my Pokémon, you'll never believe what I saw. Out of the ground, a _Diglett_ popped out! Awesome, eh?"

"_Um… wait, what kind of irresponsible person gave you a Pokémon?_" Kris asked.

"The Lavender Volunteer Pokémon House. I adopted a Sandshrew from there. I call it Shrew. I got that from that fairytale, 'The Prince And His Urge To Shrew" or something. Seriously, my creativity knows no boundaries."

"_You know that this phone call has probably cost me more money than you will ever make in your life, so can we get down to the point_?"

"Where are you calling from? I thought your mom paid your bills by selling pictures of you to homeless guys…"

"_Hey, they weren't all homeless! And to answer your question, I'm still in Johto, but in an undisclosed location. And by that I mean that I don't have a clue. The reason why I haven't been able to call you was…_"

[One lengthy explanation later…]

"…_and that pretty much explains everything. You with me_?"

"Can you back to the part where the android blows up that tank to save the universe?"

"_Maybe later. But I'm working for Extranormal Operations right now and… ugh… hang on a minute… I'm a bit… whoa…_"

"What's going on in there?"

"_Nothing… I just… a bit dizzy… dunno what's causing it. Maybe it's because I had long day, maybe it's the brain surgery… or maybe it's because Croc is chewing on my leg and I'm bleeding to death right now… but I'm too tired to look…_"

"Maybe we'll talk tomorrow?"

"_Don't you get it, Shane? Man, why did I even bother calling you… look, we can't talk anymore, I had to steal this phone just to tell you all this!_"

"Is that a way to treat your friends?"

"_I wouldn't know. But I guess you don't really have anyone else to talk to, do ya? I guess you were watching a Vin Diesel movie alone in your apartment and desperately waiting for someone, at least a telemarketer, to call_."

"There's a Vin Diesel movie on and I wasn't told?"

"_Have you listened to me at all_?"

"Yeah, I get it, things are bad, but so they are all over. Did you hear about those guys who called themselves 'Plasmas' who blew up themselves in that Pokémon daycare to free the Pokémon or something? Seriously, I didn't think you, of all people, would need a shoulder to cry on."

"_You don't even have shoulders anyway, so no, I wasn't expecting that. And no, I don't _need_ that. I just wanted someone to listen… it's so boring in here. Everyone's so busy and distracted. This is hardly better than home…_"

"Whoa!" said Shane, who was currently focused on the TV that Shrew had turned back on. "Check him out, Shrew! Hey, you think I could have abs like that some day?"

"_…goodbye, Shane_."

"What?"

And with that, the only thing Shane heard from the phone was beeping. Only after shrugging, putting the phone away and watching Riddick kicking the shit out people, did Shane realize what was really going on. So this government organization had employed Kris as an agent and had given her a Pokémon and brain surgery and was now keeping her isolated from the outside world for some reason? Trippy. But Shane was beginning to forget about it already, especially after he found the remote control from underneath the couch.

After his limited attention span forced him to change the channel, Shane had already forgotten his little discussion with Kris, and was browsing through channels and watching whatever they were playing that night. Whenever it was something that he actually had to pay attention to and think about while watching, Shane was quick to change the channel. To avoid something like that, E! was a good place. Only a few minutes after browsing through channel, Shane could feel his grip of the remote loosening, but before he heard the sound of it hitting the floor, he had fallen asleep…

* * *

Upon falling asleep, Shane had the most bizarre dream. In a blurred but intensely lifelike vision, he had seen two people in full-black costumes sneaking into his house, sedating and kidnapping him and Shrew and dragging them into some kind of airship. Even the freezing cold wind felt realistic. A bit too realistic even…

When Shane had pinched himself many times enough, he had to believe it - he was currently flying over Johto in the middle of the night! He looked around him, realizing that he and Shrew were in an aluminum basket, like in a hot air balloon, only in one that was dragged by three Drifblim. Shivers went down Shane's spine as he looked down, seeing the millions of little spots of light, coming from windows, cars, lampposts, burning buildings… everything.

The two men in black had apparently noticed that Shane was awake, but had taken off their balaclavas, so Shane could catch a glimpse of them, though he found their featureless faces hard to describe. The men were almost identical, both medium-sized, black-haired individuals wearing shades. The other one had the number three tagged on his suit, while the other one had, logically enough, the number four. Once again, Shane's mind leapt to the most logical conclusion:

"You guys are aliens, right?" he asked the two men. "I knew it! Finally, they've come to take me to paradise! Graceland, here I come!"

"Who gave you permission to ask anything?" inquired '3', who slapped Shane on the face.

"Well, no one, I just thought-"

"We have had enough your attitude!" '3' said, but '4' stopped him from initiating anymore violence.

"Perhaps an explanation is in place," '4' said. "No names are needed, though. That guy's agent three and I'm agent four. The organization we work for, Sledge Hammer, don't have any big flying Pokémon around, and a helicopter would be a bit too noisy, so these Drifblim were the best solution."

"The boss wants to see you," '3' explained further.

"Well, _that_ makes the kidnapping justified, then," Shane said while rolling his eyes. "Seriously, who's this '_boss_' fella. Is it Hugo?"

"I guess we can tell him, right?" '4' asked '3'. "The boss either wants him into the group or dead, so either way, it doesn't hurt if he knows."

"All right…" '3' said. "It's Professor Kaminko. Surely you have heard the name before?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Shane said. "My memory ain't so good these days…"

"Can we get rid of this guy?" '3' groaned. "Or at least silence him for a while. We're still almost an hour away from the base…"

"All right, but you'll buy the beers next time!"

The agent with the number four labeled on his suit pulled a nightstick out, and before Shane could make any sleazy double entendres, he had been knocked out.

* * *

_An hour spent unconscious later_…

As Shane slowly regained consciousness, he found himself in a place much warmer than a few minutes ago. But it was also a lot louder. Shane soon found himself incapable of moving, as he had been handcuffed to the chair he was sitting on.

Shane tried opening his eyes. It was all a blur at first. Then, slowly, he started seeing something. There were three other people in the small room he was in, but the room was gray and completely void of any furniture. Shane recognized Kris, despite not seeing her in a long time, wearing a rather strange-looking jumpsuit. Kris was hanging her head in shame as she was being yelled at by an old, bald man with sunglasses, while a younger, bespectacled man offered commentary on the background. Gradually, Shane started to make something out of the words:

"…and do you know how many listening devices there could be hidden in your nose right now?" Blaine ranted. "Seriously, I'll take my pliers and look myself if I have to. And the phone! Did you check it for bugs? Of course not! After all I tried teaching you, the Man is still brainwashing you with his propaganda…"

"Blaine!" Elm interrupted. "Our guest is waking up…"

Blaine adjusted his tie, and apparently, his personality as well, as he calmed down a bit as he walked towards Shane.

"Did you sleep well?" Blaine asked, and continued without bothering to wait for a reply: "Of course you did! My sedative never fails, though they really shouldn't have been so violent with you… personally, I always hit a specific part of the head lightly, but they just bashed you in the face like that. Back to training for them! Anyhoo, sorry about all these precautions and kidnappings and other fun things like that… personally, I find them to be quite fun, but I guess some people don't like being taken from their homes in the middle of the night… I call them 'lameasses', but nonetheless…"

"You know why you're here though, don't you, Shawn?" Elm interrupted when Blaine wasn't getting into the point.

"It's Shane, actually," Shane corrected.

"Right, right, Dane, got it" Elm said and pulled his glasses up, as they were sliding down his nose again. "Do you know where you are?"

"In purgatory?" Shane guessed.

"Close…" Kris muttered.

"Shut it, Kris!" Blaine snapped at her, causing her to quickly look down again, obviously attempting to look at pathetic as possible - she was even lower lip and shedding crocodile tears to get the point across, but Blaine ignored it.

"Actually, this is the base of Sledge Hammer and Extranormal Operations," Elm said politely. "Which, I'm sure Kris told you all about, Bane. Yes, we recorded your phone conversation. Kris, I must say, that I'm _very_ disappointed!"

"I'm not nine, professor," Kris deadpanned. "Seriously, you being so condescending is way worse than Blaine yelling at me. So I called some guy and told him everything I know about this group, big whoop. It's not like I have any top-secret files stashed somewhere… or do I? Hmm… let's see… no."

Kris was still going through her pockets in an exaggeratedly sarcastic way, but Blaine's glare caused her to stop. Blaine then pushed Elm aside to confront Shane himself.

"Now listen here, you little twit!" he growled menacingly. "We're running an operation far too delicate for someone like you to mess up. Based on the phone conversation we overheard, it's a surprise that they haven't put you back into preschool by now! You have two options…"

"I'll definitely take the other one!" Shane said.

"Shut up!" Blaine snarled, then adjusted himself again and tried to sound less furious. "Now… Option A: you join us and apply for training to become an Operative, as we can always use more, and Kaminko seems to have a thing for pathetic, emotionally crippled people anyways. Option B: I shoot you in the face right now so we can get this over with."

"He'll do it!" Elm warned.

"Hmm…" Shane pondered, buried deep in thought. "I need to think this over…"

**

* * *

**

_**Extranormal Operations HQ, Mess hall, a week later**_

Shane was now in the middle of his training, and Lt. White wasn't particularly happy to be his drill instructor. As of now, Shane had already shot himself in the leg and somehow had gotten his arm in a knot before even starting the close-quarters-combat practice with White. They had allowed Shane to use his Sandshrew as a designated Pokémon, but while having practice battles with the staff, Shane had already achieved an outstanding record: zero wins and fifty losses. Per day!

And yet, Kaminko hadn't fired him (or had him killed) yet. Currently, he was relaxing one of his few spare moments, eating cheaply made food in the cafeteria with Kris. Though Kris wasn't exactly popular with anyone in the base nowadays, she didn't care, as long as she had someone whom she could compare herself against to. Next to Shane's screwups, she was a complete professional. Plus, she had someone to talk to.

"…but I learned my lesson!" Shane said. "Never try to use Shrew as a football, Kris, take it from me!"

"Where would my life be without your advice, I wonder…" Kris sighed, reluctantly eating what she liked to call the chef's 'brown stuff', now with 1% Tauros meat!

Shane didn't seem to mind the food, nor had he noticed the exhaustion in Kris' voice. He was happily watching around him, scanning his surroundings. Even though no one remembered his name yet and his training had gone horribly, Shane was feeling optimistic. The moment he had seen his private room, he was surprised about the size. Despite being no bigger than average hotel room, it was still larger than his apartment. Now, Shane was looking with interest at Lyra, who was sitting a few tables away and had just been staring at Kris and Shane.

"What's with that chick, uh… Lyra, was it?" Shane muttered to Kris.

"Pay no attention to her," Kris said with her mouth full of food, spilling crumbs everywhere. "I caught her staring at me once a few weeks ago. Probably looking for weak spots to exploit. Really, that girl is messed up. Did you know that-"

"Yeah, yeah, but can we get to my issue now?" Shane interrupted.

"What issue?"

"The one that I was about to tell before you started telling me your life story, _duh_! Now, I took your advice, Kris. I called that dating service."

"I thought they told you stop harassing them?"

"Well, I had to use a different name…" Shane said. "So, if anyone asks, I'm Phil R. Up from Kirakusa Town. Anyway, I have a date tonight!"

Kris stared at Shane blankly.

"Okay, say that again with a completely straight face," she said. "No, seriously. You. Going somewher. With a person. No, I just don't see it…"

"Laugh all you want, Kris, but I have you to thank for this. This was your suggestion. Without you I would have never considered… well, anyway, I think I hit the jackpot here…"

Shane took out a piece of paper from his pocket and started reading out loud.

"Listen to this:" he said. "Cheren Black, age 29. Works as a vice president for Galaxy Incorporated, was just in the news after defeating a Hitmonchan in a boxing match, outrunning a Dodrio _and_ helping to cut down the Bidoof population in Sinnoh. Likes good listeners, expensive restaurants and frolicking on a corn field. Rich, tall, rich, dark, rich and even wears glasses… just my kind of guy!"

"What do I have to do with this?" Kris wondered.

"If it wasn't for you, I would have never had the courage to arrange a blind date just like that! I was so desperate that I almost went to see the guy on that back alley, the one with a Jynx that-"

"Yeah, I don't want to hear it, I'm trying to eat!" Kris objected. "Anyway, good luck! I hope your date goes well."

"Thanks, I guess," Shane said, actively confused as to whether Kris was being sincere or sarcastic. "Hey, any last minute tips for the night? The guy is rich after all… I want to make sure he has fun!"

"In your case, the best solution is not showing up at all."


	6. Master of Puppets

_**MASTER OF PUPPETS**_

Cheren Black was just like his ad promised: 6'2'', dark hair, glasses, straight white teeth. Though he was wearing a stylish pinstriped suit now, many speculated that he wore leather pants on his spare time. Indeed, Black was a big fish in a small pond. Him entering Mahogany Town was enough to evoke chaos, as rabid fans gathered around the Dance Theater when his limousine pulled over next to it.

"_It's Black!_"

"Oh my god, it's really him! Hey! Cheren! Over here!"

"Once you go Black, there's no turning back!"

Black's limousine driver and the bulky Hariyama that acted as his bodyguard wanted to get Black into the Dance Theater as soon as possible, and were escorting him past the fans, Hariyama pushing everyone out of its way. But Black himself relished his popularity, waving to fans and even stopping occasionally to drop a casual greeting. It was tough to keep in check of all the fangirls that fainted that night after Black had actually shaken hands with some of them.

When Black finally got into the Dance Theater, he told his subordinates to get a table and order whatever they wanted, while he would see his date for the night. The arrival of his screeching fans was rather odd, seeing as this time, it was not a publicity stunt. Black hadn't told about this to anyone, so it was probable that someone had spotted his limousine prior. Work had prevented Black from going out in months, and he had a strong feeling that tonight would go well. After all, his date, Phil R. Up, was quite the beast, based on his picture. Black was scanning the Dance Theater to look out for him.

Several Mr. Mime dressed as waiters walked past tables, serving the customers efficiently and quickly. Some used their hands while others were able to levitate plates and glasses to tables using their psychic powers. Most of the restaurant was dominated by the stage area, where the Kimono Girls and their Pokémon (the various evolutions of Eevee) danced elegantly, in an almost hypnotic manner.

Black was perhaps the only one in the room not currently entranced by the dancing, as he was still looking for his date - he was supposed to have a white rose attached to his chest. Finally, Black saw the only person in the Theater wearing that - and the only one sat alone. But this strange-looking, scruffy, blonde-haired weirdo was not what Black was expecting - he looked nothing like in the picture! Black's hopes were shot down instantly when the guy stood up and waved at him enthusiastically - knocking over a glass while he did so. Nevertheless, to Black, character mattered. Granted, deceiving and lying to him wasn't the best way of getting close, but Black decided to wait until the end of the date to evaluate the guy.

So, he stepped gallantly forth, shook hands with the guy, sat down and ordered. Black wasn't exactly feeling hopeful, because the moment the waiter arrived and they were ready to order food, the date had this to say:

"By the way, I assumed you were going to pay, so I didn't bring any money. Hell, I was having the feeling that you wouldn't arrive, so I was already preparing an escape plan!"

Black sighed and decided to order some wine on the side.

"So," Black said while the Mr. Mime poured wine in his glass, "if you don't mind me saying, you don't really look like the guy in the picture you sent me."

"Well, yeah," the blonde guy said apologetically. "To tell you the truth, it's actually Cillian Murphy's face plastered on the body of a Machoke that's wearing clothes. But what does that tell about me?"

"That you're a fraud?"

"What? No! That I'm a devil with Photoshop! And that's one of my many computer skills! I can also use Skype!"

"That's… quite marvelous. I use quite a lot of computers in my work, so I-"

"See! So we're both into computers? I can feel a connection forming immediately!"

"Was anything that you told about yourself true?" Black asked.

"Well… the name was. Only that it's spelled Phil R. Up but it's actually pronounced… Silas Stephens. Or Shane, for sort."

"Do you mind if I call you Shane, then?" Black inquired.

Shane's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He had to drink some water to stop himself from overheating - someone had actually remembered his name!"

"Uh… yeah… absolutely… sheesh! The great Cheren Black can call me whatever he wants… I mean…"

"Relax," Black said, "and for the record, don't use my full name. It's a bit… odd. You can call me Black."

"Just _Black_? I mean, it's an amazing name, but I don't know you _that_ well…"

"People tend to assume that just being some sort of philanthropist, media personality and corporate executive makes me something…" Black said. "But just try to act normal. Don't think of me as some kind of millionaire-"

"Oh, so you are a millionaire?" Shane interrupted. "Good! I mean, uh, good for you. But go on. And for the record, I really hate leeches who cling on to people just because they have money! _Hate _them! With passion! Say, do you have a lot of cash with you now?"

"Anyway," Black continued, "try to think of me as a person underneath all that fame. I haven't been out much, so it would be good to _really_ know someone who isn't just working under me, trying to get promoted or something."

"Oh, I've been there," Shane said and snapped his fingers at the waiter to get more wine, "believe me!"

"What do you do, then?"

"Hm? Oh, never mind that. Tell me about _you_! You're Cheren Black, after all! Who doesn't know your name? I read your bio. You said you were a Pokémon Trainer back in the day?"

While he spoke, Shane raised his feet rudely on a table, dropping mud from his shoes all over the table. Black was unsure what to feel about this kind of behavior, but it did pique his interest a bit. This Shane person was most certainly someone who didn't give two shites about social conduct. Maybe this would turn out to be interesting…

"Yes, indeed I was," Black said. "Like I said, I'm twenty-nine years old, born in Kanoko Town, Isshu. Dr. Araragi was just an intern then, but I still remember when she gave me my first Mijumaru. Unlike others of my age from the same town, I quit training relatively early. It was when I discovered the joy of Pokémon research. Finding out exactly why they do what they do… it fascinates me. Did you hear that we at Galaxy Incorporated are developing a machine that might allow Pokémon to communicate with humans one day? Think of the opportunities."

"I really would pay a lot to know what my Sandshrew thinks about me…" Shane pondered. "I don't know or care much about tech, but that really does sound interesting. Brilliant idea!"

"I don't know about that," Black said modestly. "It's really the result of years of work by the whole team. And slight industrial spying at Devon, whose idea we sort of 'borrowed'… along with a few others."

"Hey, you gotta spend money to make money!" Shane said.

"Were you even listening to what I said?"

"Of course I was! I just didn't want you think that I was stupid or anything! Really, they say that I'm among the finest minds of my generation!"

"I'm sure they do…"

What little hope Black had about his date being actually somewhat bearable was whittled down to nothing over the course of the evening. Shane was coarse, selfish, extremely deluded and kept alternating back and forth between paying lip service to Black and asking how much money he had on his bank account at the moment. Fortunately, Black had the excuse of finally leaving after he had finished dessert and paid the bill. At the door, Black restrained himself from kicking Shane out on the street, but decided to be a gentleman to the very end. The hordes of fans had already left, fortunately.

"Say, Shane," Black said. "Do you happen to need a ride home?"

"It was about time you suggested! Come on! Oh, _awesome_!"

Shane saw Black's limousine, and couldn't believe his eyes when the extremely large Hariyama kept the door open for him. Shane entered the limousine and immediately raised his feet on the benches and started to browse through the liquor cabinet. Black groaned at the prospect of having to spend time in the same car as Shane.

"Recall the Hariyama," Black told his driver. "So, Shane, where do you live?"

"Um… get to the Pokéathlon Dome," Shane said. "I live nearby."

"Thank goodness…"

Black didn't have to concern himself with humoring Shane on the way towards the Dome. It wasn't that far away, and Shane was preoccupied by the phone in the limousine, which he could use to constantly prank call the driver and then laugh at his own supposed wittiness for a minute or two.

"Hey, driver!" Shane yelled after picking the phone for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, sir?"

"Stop answering the phone and keep your eyes on the road! Hah!"

"That is amusing, sir," the driver said dryly. "Especially after twelve times."

"I know, isn't it just?"

"That is hilarious, Shane," Black lied, "but we have arrived. The Pokéthlon Dome is here. Where do you-"

"Yeah, just, uh, drive around the back!"

Black was curious, so he allowed his driver to drive to the back of the Dome. On the other side, there was just some trees, separating the Dome from the beach. On the other side, there was the backdoor of the Dome. There were no houses in the area.

"Okay, this is a bit trickier," Shane said. "Honk four times and flicker the lights, uh, let's see…"

Shane grabbed the instruction booklet labeled with the sledgehammer logo just to be sure.

"Flicker the lights once!"

When the guard opened the door leading the limousine into a tunnel, Black seemed to finally understand what was going on. Especially when the car emerged from the tunnel, and the limousine was suddenly surrounded by confused security guards. Black recognized the building, the guards, the logo… did he really just have a date with an Extranormal Operations agent? Surely their standards couldn't be that low…

To quench his curiosity, Black stepped out of his limousine and politely opened the door for Shane.

"You… live here?" Black asked.

"What? Oh, crap on a stick, yeah…" Shane muttered to himself. "Well, to be perfectly honest, this place is the base of this super-secret organization whose name I can't quite spell… but don't tell anyone!"

"Extranormal Operations, I know," Black said. "Our company is one of the few that have made deals with them. We supply them with plenty of technology. You were lucky that you didn't show the base to just random stranger."

"Whew!"

Shane sighed from relief; he had screwed up enough times already, and he was pretty sure that Blaine wasn't going to reprimand him for leaving the base despite being forbidden from doing so about a gazillion times.

"Anyway," Shane said, "I had a pretty good time, so…"

Black was thinking as fast as he could. He hadn't paid any attention to his plan in months. He would need someone to use against ENO… some sort of unwitting pawn who would be just in the position he would need. And now, he had one, standing in front of him like a dork, waiting for Black to say something. As nauseating as the idea of spending time with Shane was to him, it was crucial to Black's plan. He had to comply.

"Yeah! Absolutely! I had a great time too!" Black said, feigning enthusiasm.

It worked.

"Really?" Shane asked, obviously exhilarated. "Well… are we going to see each other more in the future? Or should I ask it in a less cheesy manner? I don't go on dates much, so…"

"Really now?" Black asked, pushing the envelope a bit. "Why, I'm shocked! Someone as charming as you! We must do it again some other time! Say, next Friday, I'll make the necessary arrangements to get you out of the base… or maybe I'll come visit you myself! We can pick up from where we left off…"

"Uh… okay!" Shane said. "I'll, uh, see you then! What about the driver, by the way? He has seen the base…"

"Don't worry," Black said and smiled, flashing his white teeth at Shane briefly. "I have a feeling that he won't remember this place for long…"

"Cool! Do you have, like, some kind of device that will suck the memory out of him?"

"Uh… sure. Well, I'll be seeing you later!"

"When?"

"Um… don't call me. I'll call you! Okay, take care now, bye bye then!"

Black quickly entered his limousine and told his driver to get away as fast as possible, leaving Shane alone with the security guards. Shane suddenly remembered something:

"But you don't have my phone number!" he yelled at Black.

But Black was already too far away to hear anything, so Shane shrugged and went inside, escorted by the security guards, one of whom was putting on a rubber glove.

**

* * *

**

**The next morning, Black's office, The second floor of the Goldenrod Game Corner**

Black was focusing on his paperwork, though he found it hard to do because of the constant beeping and the sound of drunken gamblers coming from downstairs. This office was the only place in Johto where Black could work, seeing as Team Rocket had taken over everything else. Hell, he had to pay protection money AND rent to Team Rocket just to work there! The first phase of his masterstroke was now nevertheless completed - he had someone inside Extranormal Operations that he could manipulate. He was expecting his messenger to arrive any minute now. There weren't many people that Black trusted, but this messenger was one of those - after all, Black paid her.

After a while, Black heard knocking from the window. He turned around in his chair and nearly had a heart attack when he saw an Aipom on the windowsill, tapping the window with the three-fingered-hand on the end of its tail. Black only cared about the bag hanging from the tail. But where was the Aipom's trainer?

Either way, Black stood up and walked to the window. Once he opened it, Aipom jumped into the room, but Black tried to look around for signs of the girl he was expecting.

"Hello?" he shouted. "Anyone there?"

"Yeah. Up here!"

Black looked up and saw his messenger hanging from the roof, futilely kicking the air and trying to pull herself up.

"Little help?" the girl asked.

"Hmph. Fine. There's a windowsill here. Just drop down."

Black dodged when the girl landed on the windowsill, then jumped into Black's office. The first Black noticed were her frighteningly white eyes, the green stripes on her black hair. She was wearing clothes that would be required for a person who spent her days running across rooftops. She was small and light, much shorter than Black himself. But Black had a feeling that she could still kick Black's ass if he wasn't careful.

"Okay, you got here _almost_ on time, I see," Black said as the Aipom jumped on the girl's shoulder, "except that you're a _minute too late_!"

"My clock shows that it's exactly 9 AM," the girl said.

"No! It's a minute over! Anyway, you got what I asked for?"

"It's in the bag," the girl said. "By the way, my name is Pluto, and I-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Mary Sue," Black said. "Let me put it simply. We're not friends. You work under me!"

"I'd rather not be under you, Black," Pluto snarked.

"Rest assured, you're not my type," Black said and adjusted his glasses. "The bag, please."

To end this painfully stupid conversation, Pluto signaled her Aipom to give the bag to Black. The Aipom leaped in front of Black, holding its tail high in the air. Black snatched the bag, and Aipom immediately returned on Pluto's shoulder.

"Good job, Aipom!" she said. "Here you go!"

Pluto gave Aipom a banana, which it immediately started peeling with the help of its tail. Black was not concerned by this, as he was going through the contents of the bag. As he found what he wanted, he smiled, closed the bag and threw it on his table.

"You know the deal," Pluto said. "I didn't take a peek or anything. _Sooo_… I didn't do this for my health, you know."

"What?"

Black realized that Pluto was still in the room, and saw her open palm. Black sighed and took out his wallet.

"Standard fee is usually a hundred poké-dollars per trip," Pluto said, "but for you, I'll make it a hundred-and-fifty. I added an asshole-bonus to it."

"I like your way of doing business, Pluto," Black said and gave the girl her money. "Say, you aren't doing anything at the moment, and I could use someone reliable. There's info I need to deliver. That is your job isn't it?"

"We call ourselves '_runners_', and we totally came up with the idea all by ourselves," Pluto said.

"Um… _we_? There's more of you?"

"You'd be surprised," Pluto smiled. "There might be one cleaning your windows right now."

Black wasn't sure whether that was a joke or not, and quickly looked behind him. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone there… probably.

"Anyway, I need you to find out something for me," Black told Pluto. "I'm tired of having to work in this crappy office. Galaxy Inc's main building is in Sinnoh, but that's too far. I need a good office in Johto, preferably something that Team Rocket doesn't own."

"Those Rockets really are bad for our business, too," Pluto said. "Looks like you and I have a common enemy."

"But that's the _only_ thing we have in common, I assure you," Black said. "Is there anything you can do about our little… _problem_?"

"Well, you know that mysterious, Giovanni guy?" Pluto asked while waltzing around Black's office, Aipom hanging dangerously on her shoulder. "You obviously have the resources to take him down, and I can get the info you need. What's this?"

Pluto almost touched one of Black's expensive Articuno-statues, but Black quickly pulled her away.

"Don't. Touch. Anything."

"Fine," Pluto said, secretly contemplating on stealing the statue later. "but like I said, do we have a deal? I'll find out something about Giovanni. Maybe you can exploit that info?"

"I suppose I have to pay you for that info?"

"Of course," Pluto said. "I don't run a charity here. And it will cost _a lot_. But damn it, Black, you're the VP of one of the biggest corporations in the world. I don't think you're strapped for cash or anything…"

"The _company_ has a lot of money," Black said bitterly. "Not me. Though I sometimes use the company's money for necessary things like golden statues and expensive meals, I'm not as rich as the media likes to think. But it looks like we have a deal. For now, get the hell out of my office! And take that monkey with you as well!"

"Firstly, it's not a monkey," Pluto said. "And secondly… okay! Hey, look over there!"

"Where?"

Black turned around, watching something nonexistent behind him. When he turned back, Pluto and her Aipom were gone. Black chuckled to himself. This girl could potentially be useful… and dangerous as well. He didn't laugh anymore - once the girl was done, there was nothing to prevent her from turning against him.

But for now, Black had other things in his mind. Saturn, Galaxy Inc's president, had called him for a 'meeting', that took place at Stark Mountain. Black couldn't believe that he had to work for that moron… he knew that _he_, Black, held the strings and kept the company running, not _Saturn_… Saturn's only job was to pose for the papers and making sure that the Committee would give them money.

**

* * *

**

_Several hours later…_

Black was in a helicopter that flew towards Stark Mountain. Navigation was hard, seeing as the mountain was blanketed by thick layers of volcanic ash. Saturn and his goons were most likely waiting somewhere near the entrance, but at least Black had some precious minutes of privacy before having to meet them. He had a lot of things on his mind. Just before he had to leave, the mysterious Pluto had arrived into his office again, with the files that Black needed.

It was amazing that she had gotten all that info in just two hours. Black was currently holding an extensive bio of Giovanni and the rest of Team Rocket in his hands. Giovanni, also known as Antonio Ancotti, also known as Sakaki, also known as Robert Redford, and so on. An unscrupulous businessman who had made a fortune in just three years. It seems that just three years ago, Giovanni was just the head of Team Rocket, notorious criminal gang. But then, the famous Pokémon Trainer Red defeated him. Team Rocket was briefly disbanded, but once the remaining Rockets had taken over the Goldenrod Radio Tower, they managed to call Giovanni back into action.

And suddenly, Team Rocket was no longer a band of merciless criminals that killed every Pokémon on their way, but a legitimate business. Well, in theory. Everyone knew how Giovanni 'got rid' of competitors, but no one could really prove it. Somehow, Giovanni had eliminated everyone on his way while still keeping himself under the radar. Sure, several Rockets were arrested over the past few years, but how the hell were they going to connect their wrongdoings to Giovanni? Giovanni was a thorn in the side of every legitimate and non-legitimate businessman in the Pokémon world, and he knew it - few people ever saw Giovanni do business in person. Hell, few people had ever seen Giovanni _at all_.

But that was all going to change. With the info that Pluto supplied, Black would make sure that Giovanni's operations would suffer a little… setback.

"Mr. Black!" the pilot shouted over the engine's noise. "We have arrived. It looks like Mr. Saturn is already waiting for you…"

"Kill me now…" Black groaned. "Yes, thank you, just descend or something. I want to get this over with…"

Saturn, Black's immediate superior, was currently entertaining his goons with crude anecdotes.

"…so that explains why she wanted a Staryu!" he finished his joke.

Jupiter and Mars, his two female henchmen, were forced to laugh, while Saturn hit them in the back and laughed loudly at his own 'joke'. Once Black had landed, Saturn pushed Mars out of his way and walked towards Black.

"Cheren!" he yelled. "What's up? If it isn't my favorite faggot! Hah, relax, your secret is safe me! The media won't get anything, I promise. Now, I'm sure you know why we're here. You're not like _those_ two over there," he pointed at Jupiter and Mars. "Why won't people to believe that we need more _men_ in this company? Am I right or am I right? So, shall we go into the cave?"

"Um… sure," Black said. "Why not? Sounds fun? Sir, I've been meaning to ask… I know that this has something to do with Heatran, but… well, actually, that's all I know."

"You didn't get the memo?" Saturn asked loudly. "Mars, you're fired! Hah, just kidding! I'm just taking it off your salary!"

"Taking _what_ off my salary?" Mars wondered. "I barely make minimum wage now!"

"I'm sure we can cut a little more," Saturn said. "Now, I trust that you at least got us those heat-resistant suits?"

**

* * *

**

Black, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars got into orange environment suits fitted with equipment that would protect them against the heat. Those would be necessary as the three stepped into the depths of Stark Mountain - Saturn got a sudden cramp at the entrance, so he couldn't participate.

So, Black was in command of Jupiter and Mars, and the trio walked through the long, zigzagging tunnels of Stark Mountain. Occasionally, Jupiter's Skuntank had to smash some boulders out of his way. Inside the mountain, the fissures in spilled and hardened lava had formed enormous caverns, and navigation was even trickier than on the outside. Fortunately, Black had a map. The group kept constantly arriving to intersections, but Black always seemed to know where to turn. Left, right, right, left, forwards, left, right…

Finally, the trio arrived to what looked like a dead end. They were now as deep inside the cavern as possible, and they all had to keep their flashlights on. The road was blocked by hundreds of jagged rocks, that separated the rest of the cave from what slumbered inside: Heatran.

It was a creature that resembled an enormous, reddish brown tortoise. On each of its four legs, were four extremely sharp claws, each one roughly the size of a human head. Metal bangles were locked on its legs, and its face was covered by an iron mask. Though it was sleeping now, Black could still see its orange eyes - it didn't have any eyelids. Its snoring was easy to identify, though, and steam was constantly escaping from its mouth as it breathed.

"All right, Miss Jupiter, Miss Mars, are you ready?" Black whispered at his subordinates. "We're not here because of it, okay? We came here for the Magma Stone. We might have to spend all day searching it, so-"

"Mr. Black," Jupiter interrupted. "Sorry for cutting you off, boss man, but I think I see the Stone."

"Please, Miss Jupiter, we can't be expected to search every single rock you might see."

"No, I mean that glowing, orange chunk of rock over there."

"Oh…"

Roughly the size of a football, the Magma Stone was indeed orange, and emitted a bright glow that seemed to illuminate at least parts of the cavern. While it didn't look particularly heavy, Jupiter and Mars had to lift it together nonetheless. Black paid no attention to Jupiter and Mars nearly breaking their backs while lifting the Stone, but was more curious about Heatran. Was taking the Stone really such a good idea? What would Heatran have to say once it would find the Stone gone?

Bah, no big deal. That's what Extranormal Operations was for. And Black had a bigger fish to fry. His plan, whatever it was, was even closer to completion.

"Very well, ladies," Black said. "Let's go. Don't drop the stuff!"

Cockily, while wiping the ash off his exosuit, Black walked out of the cavern. Jupiter followed, with Mars behind her, spewing insults at Jupiter and sweating under the weight of the Stone that the others made her carry.

It took hours for Heatran to wake up, and Stark Mountain was already empty at that point. Trainers were now avoiding place due to the obvious issues with heat and such. Once it woke up, Heatran's eyes started moving around the darkness, searching for its source of light. But there was no Magma Stone. Heatran opened its mouth to roar; the noise alone was enough to drive every single Pokémon inside Stark Mountain wild, with hordes of Zubat and Golbat escaping the horrible noise. The whole mountain trembled, and more ash was being spewed from the crater than ever.

Real smart to piss off a legendary, guys.


	7. Turn It On Again

_**TURN IT ON AGAIN**_

_10 PM, December 3__rd__ 2096. Sledge Hammer's laboratory._

"Amazing!"

Those were the first towards that Dr. Araragi uttered upon seeing the Cubone on the operating table. Araragi and Leaf were conducting research on various Pokémon, and today's research subject was Cubone. The brown Pokémon with the skull helmet looked sad - even sadder than was normal to its species. Leaf seemed to notice that.

"This is a very specific Cubone, after all," Araragi explained. "It's the child of the Marowak that was killed by the 'gas leak' at the old Pokémon Tower. No wonder they tore that place down to make a Radio Tower. Progress comes first, am I right?"

"Whatever you say, ma'am," Leaf said, not particularly listening.

The Cubone on the operating table had turned its back on Leaf and Araragi, and was hanging its head in sorrow. Leaf couldn't really think what to do or say in order to cheer the Cubone up. Araragi, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much. She picked the Cubone up and locked it in its cage, before cheerfully leaving the lab, Leaf following her.

"There's one thing that has always fascinated me," Araragi told Leaf while walking out of the lab.

It was late night, and the rest of the science team had already left. There was only Celio, who was once again so focused in his work that he barely noticed Leaf and Araragi leaving. Similarly, Araragi paid no attention to Celio as she switched off the lights in the lab as she left.

"What?" Leaf heard Celio exclaim before he realized what was going on. "Oh, thanks, doc! I'll just work in the dark from now on, we'll save a bundle!"

Araragi pretended not to hear that, but Leaf saw her laughing a bit. As they walked towards the elevator, Araragi kept talking about her theory.

"You know, they say that a Cubone always wears the skull of its mother as a helmet," she pondered. "But how the hell can that be possible? Does a Cubone _always_ lose its mother as it is born? That would probably be the best way to explain it scientifically… like, giving birth kills the mother. We need to do a little test…"

"Your 'little tests' have been more than disturbing, ma'am," Leaf said quietly, hoping that Araragi wouldn't hear it. She didn't.

"So, what are you up to tonight, Leaf, huh?" Araragi teased. "Is there a man you want to spend your weekend with? Come on, TGIF, live a little!"

"No, there's no one right now…" Leaf sighed. "Not that I care! I've got work to do, after all! We're on an important mission here!"

"'_Important'_, sure…" Araragi scoffed. "Be a party pooper if you want. There's plenty of other people who I can spend the night drinking with."

"Say, did you come by car, ma'am?" Leaf asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. I was wondering… can I get a ride home?"

"No."

And indeed, at the parking lot, Dr. Araragi took a different turn than Leaf, and quickly entered her car and drove away, ignoring Leaf, who took a look at the time. Friday night or not, it was just too late to start walking home. Instead, she decided to spend the night at the HQ, and walked back inside.

The staff didn't have to share their quarters with the agents, fortunately. But nonetheless, in order to get to the staff bedrooms, Leaf had to walk past the quarters of the Operatives. Right now, she didn't feel like talking to anyone, so she quickly stormed past the hi-tech doors, desperately hoping that no one would see her… especially… _him_?

"What's the rush, Leaf?"

Silver was standing on the doorstep leading into his dark, desolate bedroom. The TV wasn't on and the bed looked rather uninviting, as if Silver hadn't been spending any time in the there. But his cocky, arrogant expression was just the last straw for Leaf.

"Leave me alone, Silver, I'm not here to chat," she snapped.

Leaf kept walking, but Silver decided to follow her, walking surprisingly fast as he tailed Leaf.

"So… why did you come here, then?" he asked.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I don't have a place to spend the night in!"

"Sure you do," Silver said. "My bed has room for two."

Leaf had already arrived to the elevator that led to the staff's bedrooms, but still had to wait for the elevator to arrive. She decided to end the conversation with Silver as soon as possible.

"No thanks," she said as icily as she could. "I'm sure you have a fun night coming up with your right hand, and I wouldn't want to get in your way!"

Leaf turned her back on Silver rather arrogantly, but Silver had enough. She grabbed Leaf's arm and forced her to turn so her eyes would meet Silver's. He was no longer smiling - now, he was scowling, and his pained expression frightened Leaf, who tried to get out of Silver's grip.

"Sooner or later you'll have to confront me!" Silver yelled. "You may be willing to just sweep the past under the rug, but I'm not! We need to talk about things!"

"What happened, happened," Leaf said coldly. "If you're going to blame _me_ about it, you can just-"

"What's all this noise?"

Her words slightly muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth, Lyra appeared from behind the corner, confused by Leaf's and Silver's shouting.

"Dr. Greene?" Lyra said while spitting some excess foam out of her mouth. "Why are you here?"

"This doesn't concern you, Lyra," said Silver, who nevertheless let go of Leaf, "why don't you go be a bitch somewhere else?"

But once she got out of Silver's grip, Leaf quickly stepped into the elevator behind her and closed the door. Silver only noticed this too late, right as the elevator door was closing. Angered, Silver stormed back into his room. Lyra narrowed her eyes, but as she wasn't in the mood for arguing with Silver, she started to return to her room. A long week of training was finally over… not that Lyra minded. Her Cyndaquil was finally beginning to obey her, and had recently defeated Kris' ridiculous Totodile, despite the type disadvantage. Though the Cyndaquil was still a bit timid, it actually did what Lyra told it to do.

Before Lyra arrived to the door leading to her room, she heard loud bickering coming from behind the corner. Only this was even louder than Leaf's and Silver's fight. _It's Kris and that idiot friend of hers_, Lyra thought… _What the hell are they thinking, being out of their rooms at this hour? If Blaine or Lt. White would hear of this…_

"I'm telling you!" yelled Kris. "That new X-Com? It's not even a strategy game anymore! I swear, Take-Two has now officially replaced EA on my enemy list!"

"Kris, what the hell does this have to do with anything?" Shane wondered. "I was only asking you what time it was!"

"You're just avoiding the real issues, dumbass! I-"

Kris fell silent upon seeing Lyra. An immediate awkwardness was formed, and Shane decided to break the ice, as he didn't sense it:

"Hi, Lyra!" he said cheerfully. "I've been meaning to ask you… what's the point of _that_?"

As if to say 'fashion disaster!', Shane was pointing at the orange bulletproof vest that Lyra constantly wore. Lyra looked at the vest, then frowned at Shane.

"Why do you care?" she asked back. "Can't I wear whatever the hell I want?"

"Uh… shu-sure you can!" Shane stuttered. "I was just… you know, I… Kris, help me!"

"Shouldn't you be in your room now, Lyra?" Kris wondered. "It isn't like you to wander around?"

"Well, what were _you_ doing?" Lyra accused.

"Wandering around," Kris said casually, although adding, with a hint of rage in her voice: "Why?"

Kris and Lyra didn't pay any attention to Shane anymore - it was as if he wasn't there anymore. They were now staring each other, almost like Blondie and Angel Eyes, as if waiting for weapons to be drawn.

"Isn't this nice?" Shane said and placed his hands on both Kris' and Lyra's shoulders, completely misinterpreting the situation. "All three of us are finally getting along!"

"_Shut up, Shane_!" both Kris and Lyra said in unison.

PING!

The elevator doors popped open again, and this time, Lt. White was in it. It was unusual to see her hanging around the crew's quarters, as she had her own private quarters in the other building. But now, she was ready to yell at her troops:

"Why are you out of your rooms, agents? You want to alert the whole neighborhood with your racket? Hasn't that cook Blaine taught you anything?"

"Whatup, Lieutenant?" Kris asked casually and pretended that Lyra wasn't there.

"No time for small talk, Agent Five!" White said. "The three of you, come with me. Oh, and tell that Silver to come too! It's time for your surprise training!"

"What? No!" Shane whined as his cheerful mood vanished instantly. "It's Friday, and it's 11 PM!"

"Yes! That's the surprise," White explained with enthusiasm mixed with annoyance. "So put on your gear, grab your Pokémon and get to the training room! You have five minutes, go, go, go!"

**

* * *

**

About thirty minutes later, Kris, Lyra, Shane and Silver had finally arrived to the training facilities. Of course, Lt. White herself was not there. She arrived about ten minutes after that, yawning and scratching her armpits.

"Yeah, I know I'm late," White muttered. "I took a little nap back there, but let's get to the point now. Today, you'll be practicing… whatever the hell they were, umm… Pokémon powers! Yeah! You have been given enough time to synchronize with your Pokémon, and now we'll see how well do you use those powers. Everyone, send out your Pokémon!"

It took only seconds, and four bright red flashes later, Croc, Shrew, Cyndaquil and Sneasel were sitting next to their respective owners. Lyra was whispering last moment tips to Cyndaquil, who didn't seem to pay attention, while Silver and his Sneasel just sat quietly. Croc, on the other hand, didn't seem to need any pep-talk, as it was currently sparring with air, throwing punches and swinging its tail around. Shrew was calm, collected and quiet, though Shane was also sure that it couldn't really survive in a match against any of the other three.

White's eyes narrowed as she watched the four Pokémon, and Kris was quick to notice that. She had wondered why White didn't seem to have any Pokémon of her own and why she didn't show any particular powers. What was the deal between White and Pokémon?

White herself didn't notice her involuntary reactions to Pokémon, as she soon shrugged them off.

"Now," she said, "you have your little Pokétch, I assume, or did some of you drop it in the toilet? I'm looking at you, Shane… I mean, agent nine! Damn, I'm bad with these numbers!"

Kris checked her own, red, Pokétch. This wristwatch-like personal gizmo was incredibly popular in Sinnoh at the moment, but Extranormal Operatives received upgraded models directly from the Pokétch Company. Navigated with a touch screen and a holographic interface, the ENO version of the Pokétch had mundane things such as a clock… along with a map, a GPS, a personal communicator, Pokémon status indicator and a menu for utilizing Pokémon Powers. Kris had chosen Ice Beam, Ice Punch and Leer, though she had no idea where the ice would suddenly materialize from.

"Nine!"

White was currently yelling at Shane once again. Shane and Shrew tried to look as pathetic as they could, looking up at White with puppy dog eyes.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Shane asked innocently.

"You have chosen Defense Curl, Rollout and Swift! How the hell are you going to a combined Defense Curl and Rollout maneuver all by yourself? You can barely do one push-up!"

"Well, practice makes perfect!" Shane said. "Watch this!"

Shane tried to do something resembling of a Rollout, but ended up hitting his head on the wall. After recovering, he mumbled something along the lines of "yeahthatdidn'twork", as White shook her head.

"What about your Swift?" she asked. "Care to demonstrate?"

"You got it… just wait until I get myself collected…"

Shane bent his wrist and attempted to shoot glowing white stars towards the target on the wall. But instead of a sharp, glowing shuriken, Shane could only fire a single slow-moving, pathetically glowing star that didn't even reach the target.

Lyra laughed loudly, taking pleasure from Shane's failure. This caused White to abandon Shane and walk cockily towards Lyra instead.

"So, Agent Six thinks she can do better, huh?" White said. "I doubt that, after that last fiasco during your battle against Silver… how many times did you get whipped? Six? Seven?"

"Yeah, well… I won Kris!" Lyra said.

"I wouldn't too be proud about that," White remarked.

"Hey!"

"Please, Kris… I mean, agent Five, you have plenty of time to suck later! Okay, six, show me what you got!"

Lyra, who had gotten Swift, Smokescreen and Flame Wheel from Cyndaquil, took aim similarly as Shane. But unlike Shane, Lyra fired an incredibly fast-moving, star-shaped projectile towards the paper target, that was torn to pieces. Lyra's obnoxious smile made things even worse for Kris and Shane.

"That's… adequate," White said blankly. "Let's see… agent seven, did you perhaps spend your days waltzing around the base again, or did you actually choose any attacks?"

"Ice Shard, Slash and Beat Up," Silver replied.

He didn't emote in any way, and he said it without batting an eye. When Silver refused to elaborate, White pressed further.

"Beat Up?" she wondered. "The signature move of Sneasel which involves riling up all the party Pokémon for an attack? How the hell can you pull that off?"

"I would demonstrate it to you, _Lieutenant_," Silver said, adding some sarcastic emphasis, "but me beating up my commanding officer won't look good in the status report…"

"Please, you really think you can land a punch?" White mocked. "Come on, I dare ya!"

White spread her arms and just stood in place. Silver shrugged, turned on his Pokétch and activated the Beat Up power.

Whatever happened next, happened so fast that Kris, Lyra and Shane only saw a quick flash as Silver charged towards White and punched her right in the gut, knocking her on the floor. Silver stood above her, watching completely emotionlessly as White took a breath.

"That… wow… was… quite…"

But White found it hard to talk after being floored like that. She didn't seem to mind, as she even smiling. Silver offered her his hand and pulled her up from the floor. White looked exhilarated, pumped full of adrenaline, ready to fight. Though Silver himself didn't notice, White was eyeing him with obvious interest.

"Good job… Silver," she said. "You can go! Uh, the rest of you… keep practicing!"

**

* * *

**

It took Kris two hours to actually conjure some kind of ice beam, much to the delight of Lyra, who wouldn't shut up about it. Somehow, Kris hadn't improved much at all over the past few weeks. Even Shane was doing slightly better than when he had arrived, as he actually managed to use Swift properly after attempting a few hundred times.

Due to White's insistence, Kris had to take a shower after training. She didn't mind it - standing under some hot water was just what she needed to get the failures of the day out of her mind. But she also figured that White would probably be waiting outside with a stopwatch ('_I'm not made of hot water, you know!'_), so she washed herself quickly, hastily wrapped a towel around herself and walked towards the locker room.

As Kris left the shower rooms, she looked around the corridor to scout if there was anyone coming. At first, she didn't see anyone, so she started running across the corridor towards the unfortunately placed locker room, completely barefoot and dripping water all over the floor.

"Hey! Zimmerman!"

Kris almost dropped her towel, freaking out by the sound of Lyra from nearby. She emerged from the locker room, and Kris had the unfortunate feeling that Lyra had just watched her in the shower. Right now, Lyra didn't seem to mind Kris' embarrassing situation, but she just stood at the doorway and looked at Kris.

"What the hell?" Kris shrieked. "Is 'privacy' a lost concept here?"

"Don't give me that!" Lyra objected. "I just wanted to talk, but if you're going to be such a stuck-up bitch about it…"

"Should I start the whole talk about pots and kettles here? Look, Lyra, I just wanna get dressed and get into my room and bang my head against a wall until I fall asleep or whatever. Just… get out of my way!"

Kris squeezed past Lyra, who still wouldn't move away from the locker room door. Kris grabbed her clothes from the closest chair, but Lyra still wouldn't go anywhere. Kris knew that she was not a master in social situations, but even she knew not to do _that_. What the hell was Lyra's problem?

"Uh… do you mind?" Kris said. "And by that, I mean get the hell out!"

"If you're going to be so rude about it, fine!" Lyra scoffed, turned around and held hear head high as she marched away.

Kris wasn't sure what to feel. Had she offended Lyra again somehow? But she pushed the thoughts of Lyra out of her mind, believing that the tramp was just trying to break her down, as always.

**

* * *

**

_The next morning, Professor Elm's office_

Professor Elm was currently buried in paperwork, but he found it hard to do anything when Kris had barged into his office. As always, the predictable happened when he tried to be firm and tell Kris to leave.

"Uh… Kris!" Elm said upon seeing the girl just waltz in without knocking. "Do you need something?"

"Have you got a minute to talk?" Kris asked anxiously.

Elm could see something was wrong - as always. Kris was wearing her jumpsuit backwards, for one, and she looked like she could seriously use some sleep. Some mind-blowingly important issue had probably kept her up once again. No! This time, Elm would tell her that he was busy!

"I'm…" Elm started. "I'm kinda… well, right now I'm… ugh! Fine! I was about to tell you - and all the others - something anyway, so I might as well do it now…"

"Where's Blaine?" Kris wondered.

Kris had almost always seen the duo together, and had a feeling that Blaine wasn't really the type of person who would even trust anyone else. Elm wanted to correct this idea.

"It's not like we're conjoined from the neck or anything," he said. "He has his own work to do… and I have mine."

By hinting that he had work to do, Elm hoped to make Kris understand that he was busy. This failed.

"What's Blaine doing?" Kris wondered..

"Uh… well, his job," Elm said. "Genetic engineering. I don't really know the details. Anyway, I have to tell that I haven't been completely honest with you and the others…"

"I think I figured that out…"

"Apologies, Kris. But since the year is approaching its end, so is your training, and your first mission is going to be soon. You deserve to know. You know about the disappearance of Red, right?"

"Yes, yes, who doesn't know of that?" Kris said and rolled her eyes. "Really, the guy was a freaking celebrity. He'll turn up dead from an alley is my guess… after having enjoyed too much direct-to-brains electricity with his Pikachu."

"Well, the disappearance of Red, the triple homicide in Sinnoh, many other mysterious cases… they all seem to be connected somehow. The Committee, the guys who run things, want to find out what is causing it. The investigation is for a noble cause, to help prevent another Pokémon-Human war. So, they hired Extranormal Operatives to find out _everything_! They've even given us almost unlimited money to get to the bottom of the actual threat."

"Which is?"

"Legendary Pokémon," Elm stated simply. "The science division is here to do research on them, to find out the most efficient way of defending us against them. Professor Kaminko has reasons to believe that the legendary Pokémon are planning some sort of attack. The destruction of the Cerulean Cave and that triple homicide pretty much prove it. We have to make a pre-emptive strike!"

"Do you really believe that?" Kris asked.

"I guess I have no choice," Elm lamented. "I believe in the greater good, in social responsibility, all that… and this organization exists to do good things. Damn right I joined!"

"Okay, so we're here to…"

"To solve Pokémon-related, fantastical crimes," Elm stated matter-of-factly, as if reading from a cheat sheet, "and to stop the legendary Pokémon from wiping out our world."

"Okay, I think I got it now," Kris said. "So when are we going to get another version of this 'truth'?"

There was venomous sarcasm in Kris' voice, but Elm looked genuinely offended.

"_What_?" he croaked. "_This_ is the truth! No offense, Kris, but you really have some problems with your attitude…"

"You have no idea," Kris said, "but that's not the point. Why didn't you tell me… _us_ this sooner! Can't I even trust _you_ anymore?"

"What was the reason why you came here, Kris?"

Elm didn't sound angry - he was genuinely unable to - but he was impatient and fed up with Kris at the moment. He just wished for Kris to leave and stop questioning him. It was making him uncomfortable enough…

"It's about Lyra," Kris explained. "I'm fed up with her. She's trying to screw with my mind, just like back in school! And it's working! And trust me, this isn't stupid 'Blaine-esque' paranoia, I know she's not poisoning me or anything… but she keeps being a complete douche! You gonna do something?"

"This isn't middle school, Kris," Elm said, sounding uncharacteristically cold. "I can't do anything about Lyra. And I suggest you try to get along with her. If you have done something to upset her, apologize. We need you two in prime shape. We assigned you two as partners-"

"WHAT?"

"Well, Silver wishes to work alone, so there aren't many options," Elm clarified. "I supposed that you aren't too keen on working with Shane, and Lt. White is unable to participate on missions now, so-"

"Why is that so?"

Kris kept asking that from anyone. After all, she wished to know what the deal with White was. On the other hand, she was obviously tough and experienced, but did she really just spend all her days at the base, lecturing troops about the best ways to snap a Medicham's neck?

"That's her personal business," Elm said. "If she doesn't want to talk about it, I can't tell you anything. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do!"

"I do mind!"

"Security!"

"Umm… actually, I got the sudden urge to, uh… return some videotapes!"

**

* * *

**

After leaving Elm's office, Kris stood at Lyra's door. She was in her room, that much Kris knew. But what could she say? Deciding to make up the words as she went along, Kris took a deep breath and knocked on Lyra's door.

First, nothing. For a moment, Kris hoped that she didn't hear it. But then, a reply:

"_Yes_?"

Lyra's voice sounded distant, like she was in the bathroom or something. For a moment, Kris considered running the hell away, but she gathered herself and tried to do what Elm suggested.

"Lyra, it's, uh, me…" Kris said. "Kris. Zimmerman, I mean! Agent five! Whatever you wanna call me…"

"_Go away_!"

Lyra's response was instant. She sounded almost tearful as she said it, but Kris believed that she was just hearing her poorly. Nevertheless, if they were going to be partners on missions, they _had_ to get along. How did one get along with her archrival anyway? There should be a class there about _that_.

"I would like to talk about what happened last night!" Kris yelled at the door, still hoping to patch things up. "I know I yelled at you, but I was a bit tired and all… um, I just wanted to know what you were doing… I'm kindasorta sorry…"

"_'Kindasorta' isn't good enough! You're not really sorry, are you?_"

Okay, that was it…

"FINE!"

Kris was almost screaming at the door now. She didn't care if someone happened to wake up, she couldn't tolerate people like Lyra anymore. Selfish, arrogant, creepy, unresponsive cow… the list just went on as Kris tried to think of insults at Lyra.

"Sulk in your room for the rest of your life, then!" Kris yelled. "But you're right, I'm _not_ really sorry! Professor Elm just told me to apologize. But I don't want to. _I hate you_! Try to get it into your head, for Christ's sake…"

Not bothering to wait for Lyra's reply, Kris started walking away, but she still hadn't vented out enough. Overcome by the immense frustration, she kicked the wall, but it didn't help. She just sat there on the floor and started sitting in the cold, dark corridor - she couldn't even be bothered to crawl back into her own room.

Was this really worth it? Granted, Kris didn't have much in her life before this, but even that little had to be sacrificed just so Kris could work at Extranormal Operatives. And for what? So far, her training had gone down the drain, everyone hated her, she didn't have anyone to talk to… even Shane was always preoccupied by chatting with that damned Black!

_Whether I lived or died, what's the difference_, Kris thought to herself…

But then she was disgusted with herself. The whole reason why she joined was to get rid of her weaknesses and find her purpose, to become strong, respected, idolized… the whole reason why she joined so she wouldn't have thoughts like this and become less pathetic.

_Shit_…

**

* * *

**

How this organization attracted the worst screwballs in the world, no one knew…


	8. The Committee

_**THE COMMITTEE**_

_**January 2**__**nd**__**, 2097. 8:15 AM. Professor Kaminko's office, Sledge Hammer HQ**_

The administration of the Sledge Hammer Intelligence Team had gathered around a table in Kaminko's office for a meeting. The huge office, full of expensive decorations, had been remodeled during the holidays. Right over Kaminko's desk was Sledge Hammer's motto, written in huge, gold-colored letters: _SCIENTIA EST LUX LUCIS_.

At his usual spot at the end of the table, Kaminko sat on a chair much larger than the rest, coated with the finest Ninetales fur. The others around the table were Doctor Krane, Professor Elm, Blaine and Doctor Araragi. While Krane had focused his attention entirely on Kaminko as the latter spoke, the other three zoned out and almost fell asleep every three seconds.

"…so that's that," Kaminko finished his 'new year' speech. "Now then, I'm going to assume that all of you had a happy new year, so I won't have to bother asking. We'll start with you, Blaine. Is this room secure?"

"Does an Ursaring poop in the woods?" Blaine retorted.

"Ursaring are actually more commonly seen in caves," Elm started explaining, causing Dr. Araragi to bury her head in her hands in embarrassment, "though records of them roaming around urban areas are not unfounded either. I have-"

"Yes, the room is secure!" Blaine said quickly. "I spent the holidays scrubbing for bugs. Looks like I've been doing my job well, since I wasn't able to find a single one!"

"Good," Kaminko said. "How is the Genesect project coming along?"

"Better than I thought, actually," Blaine exclaimed smugly and casually leaned back in his chair. "Not only have I constructed a perfect copy of the original Pokémon, I think I might also be able to reconstruct… him."

"Magnificent," Kaminko said, plainly, without emoting in any way. "I think it is wise that we do not mention this to Lieutenant White."

"White is obviously not quite over the death of her partner," Krane said. "She may claim that she is, but the patterns are clear. If she finds out what we're doing to Touya… I don't even want to think about it."

Elm shuddered and felt uncomfortable; he had been against the Genesect Project from day one, but both Kaminko and Krane were quite insistent on finishing it. Araragi didn't seem to have any ethical problems with it either, as she wholeheartedly supported any plan that Kaminko came up with. Blaine, on the other hand, was on the verge. On the other hand, the project horrified him. But on the other hand, it was also incredibly fascinating, and basically the main reason why he was recruited anyway. Still, Elm wanted to talk to him about it later.

"If I continue the work immediately, I _might_ be able finish this in a week or two," Blaine said. "I'll need Elm's hope, though. The reconstruction must be perfect."

"Indeed," Kaminko nodded. "We still need to program additional behavioral patterns and make some advancements in the field of robotic anthropomorphization to avoid potential dilemmas caused by the uncanny valley."

"That's exactly what I thought, sir," Krane said and turned his focus to Elm and Blaine. "Now, get working, you two!"

"Delay that thought, doctor," Kaminko interrupted. "First, I need to hear something from professor Elm as well. The latest reports that Dr. Krane gave me about our Operatives were… worrying, to say the least."

"Oh… uh, yeah, sure," Elm flustered, "but really, it's nothing to worry about, sir. It's not really my field of expertise anyway, so-"

"You're in charge of the staff, Elm!" Krane shouted.

"But you're the resident shrink, Krane!"

"All right, let us not further explore this subject," Kaminko said firmly. "I trust that professor Elm will do his best to avoid further incidents amongst the crew, while doctor Krane will ensure the mental well-being of the agents. That is, after all, vital for our cause. Doctor Araragi, have you performed any additional analysis on Stark Mountain?"

"Yes sir, I have," Araragi said, "and I must say, we're in a situation stickier than an otaku's underpants in a cosplay convention. The security firms at the Battle Zone are all ganging up around the mountain, preventing anyone from getting nearby. I managed to get Greene and Nilsson in just briefly, but it's heating up dangerously in there."

"As we anticipated…" Kaminko muttered, mainly to himself. "Heatran has awakened. Should it upset the mountain's balance, about five thousand people will perish instantaneously. Survival Area and Resort Area will most likely consume most of the magma, but should earthquakes and the likes occur, I don't think we can rely on saving Fight Area either…"

"But… what do we do?" Elm cried out.

"Postpone all other operations," Kaminko said. "Observe Stark Mountain for a while. Project Genesect still takes priority, however."

"Buh… but… we can't just…"

Elm was so shocked by the news that he could barely speak, whereas everyone else took the news quite calmly, which disturbed Elm even more. He needed to speak out, even though Krane kept glaring at him.

"Shouldn't we start telling people to evacuate?" Elm yelled at Kaminko. "And why is Heatran doing this anyway? What caused this?"

Kaminko was quiet. He simply stared in front of him, most likely thinking about something important. Krane, on the other hand, coughed and spoke for Kaminko.

"I think that's enough," Krane said. "Elm and Blaine, you can get back to work already!"

_**

* * *

**_

_**Several hours later, Cheren Black's office**_

Black stood near his window, constantly observing the clock on the wall. He had taken the liberty to find out more about his informant. He knew that she was with the 'runners', who delivered information and merchandise to those who paid. Some thought that they were the salvation that the corporation-dominated Pokémon world needed. Others thought that they were shamelessly exploiting the way how the Committee blocked the Internet and other sources of information from the common man. And then there were those who believed that those stinking terrorists should be destroyed, damn it!

Anyway, Black viewed runner Pluto Lorenz as a good source of information. As long as he opened his wallet enough, Pluto would be loyal to him and wouldn't stab him in the back. Just to be sure, however, Black never left home without a gun.

Arriving two minutes late just to piss Black off, Pluto jumped in through the window again. She was followed by her Aipom, who imitated Pluto's movements exactly.

"Nice to see ya again, Blackie," Pluto said and didn't even give Black an opportunity to open his mouth. "You keep strange company, though. The guy you went out with a few weeks ago seemed like a weird choice, though. Surely a spiffing bloke like you could get someone better?"

"Is there anything you _don't_ know, Pluto?" Black asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Not anymore," Pluto replied and showed Black the file he asked about. "Everything about Giovanni, the Committee and some more, with hardback covers and everything! I even signed it for you!"

"Much obliged!"

Black snatched the file away from Pluto before she could make any additional demands. He had already paid her in advance, and he wished to get rid of her as soon as possible to focus on his files.

"Want an audio version?" Pluto asked.

"What?"

"Well, in case you're a slow reader, I took a little peek and memorized everything. I can tell you what it says in there, free of charge?"

"I guess it is convenient, and you know what it says anyway… go on."

Pluto cleared her throat before starting.

"Okay, I managed to find out that Antonio Ancotti was one of his pseudonyms, okay?" Pluto said. "So, I first did all the possible searches with that name. It turns out that an Antonio Ancotti was a member of the original Seven Sages. He was just one of the less publicized ones."

"He was a casualty during the Pokémon-Human war, right?" Black asked. "So I guess he is pretty much ruled out…"

"Please, there weren't many pictures of them, but I managed to find one from some old veteran's house," Pluto said while digging a picture from her pocket.

She gave the picture to Black. It was an old newspaper clipping, probably from thirty-five years ago. Indeed, the caption below the faded picture was as follows:

"_The members of the elite unit formed jointly by the American, British, German, Japanese and Italian governments in collaboration with the Kawachi Corporation, who sponsored the activities of these so-called 'Seven Sages'. From left to right: Captain Amanda Farrell, Lieutenant Jacob Kaminko, Sergeant 'Surge' (aka the Lightning American), Lieutenant Gottlieb Müller, Sergeant Antonio Ancotti, Corporal Megumi Iwahara, Sergeant Roger 'Apollo' Creed_"

"Sure, I remember them," Black said. "Hah, mention a history lesson in class where we _didn't_ have to memorize them! But I think it was made explicitly clear that all of them sans Kaminko and Surge died in the attack!"

"That's what I heard, too, but check out the guy on the far right," Pluto said excitedly, gushing to explain his theory to someone. "His son, Archer, currently works for one of the front companies owned by Team Rocket. Hell, everyone's connected in some way. Furthermore, I paid Mr. Archer a _visit_ a while pack, and he informed that Antonio Ancotti indeed survived… after all, they only found his dog tags, but nothing else. I got the distinct impression that someone had betrayed the Sages, which led them to an enemy assault and ultimately caused the demise of most of 'em. I'm just saying, that if Ancotti is the traitor…"

"…then that certainly fits in," Black concluded. "If we're talking about Giovanni. And I have to admit, this looks an awful lot like him… well, if the guy I have seen in the news _is_ the real Giovanni."

"I'd say so," Pluto said.

She had sneaked behind Black and was now watching the picture over his shoulder. Aipom was also staring intently, its hand-like tail waggling back and forth in front of Black's face, but Black was too focused to notice.

"Yeah, it's him," Pluto said. "I wouldn't hide myself if I looked like _that_. Rawr!"

Black took notice of Giovanni, as he was the second tallest of the group, only losing to the massive Surge. Besides his height, Giovanni was classy, sophisticated yet physically quite fit. Though he shared his confidence and physique with the current Giovanni, the younger version had plenty of scars and his black hair had grown long.

"What was his motivation to betray his unit, though?" wondered Black, who put the picture in his pocket and started walking around the office, rubbing his chin in thought. "It can't be money - the enemy were Pokémon!"

"Way ahead of you on that one, Cherry," said Pluto, who had come up with a yet another nickname. "Archer told me quite a lot. Of course, my Trapinch had to be rather persuasive. I swear, those jaws did some _damage_! Don't worry, though, he didn't see my face. He told me that back in the day, the Seven Sages had the Plates of Origin in their possession…"

"You're kidding!"

Black stopped walking around the office and instead walked to his large bookshelf. After some browsing, he grabbed a book titled '_The Myths and Legends of Sinnoh_'. After flipping through loads and loads of pages, he finally found the page he desired.

"'_Plates of Origin'_" Black read. "'_These artifacts were first located near Mount Coronet, and then scattered all over Sinnoh. After being used once, they disappeared and were scattered all over the world. In 2062, the specialist unit called the 'Seven Sages' found them around the world and discovered their connection to the so-called 'Original One'. There is some debate as to what this 'Original One' is, but some are talking about a mythical Pokémon who was rumored to be behind the creation of life, universe and everything. Though the plates seem to tell something about the 'Original One', its connection to them is unknown. What _is_ known, however, is that the plates show extraordinary powers when held by Pokémon_.' There!"

Black closed the book and threw it on his table; the resulting noise scared Pluto's Aipom so much that Pluto had to recall it.

"What?" Pluto asked.

Black eyed Pluto warily. Was she really _that_ trustworthy? With knowledge of the plates' possible existence, Black was ready to continue his plan, but was he really prepared to share it with anyone. Perhaps he could reveal something insignificant, just to make Pluto think that he would be on her side…

"Giovanni wanted these plates!" Black said. "Perhaps he still has them…"

"Do they have some kind of other powers or what?" Pluto asked. "If they just boost the effectiveness of some attacks, then what's the point?"

"I'm… sure that it's something else. That's why I need you to find out about them. Anything you can find is appreciated. Also, I need some more info on Giovanni…"

"Can do!" the perky Pluto said. "But this time, expect it to be done pro bono!"

"Really?" Black asked, the disbelief in his voice almost palpable. "Now why would you do that? I know my charms are hard to resist, but…"

"Obviously, I'm not doing this for _your_ sake, Cherry. But I want Giovanni out of the picture as much as you do. Um… that _is_ what you're doing, right?"

"Absolutely!" Black assured and grinned. "Would I lie to you?"

"Probably, yeah."

"Well, I'm not lying to you this time. You know, Pluto, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful business relationship."

"I don't," Pluto said honestly, "but we'll get along. See you later, Cherry! Aipom, go!"

Pluto was one of those people who disliked Poké Balls, and probably had gotten too familiar with the clichéd idea of keeping Pokémon out of them. She let her Aipom out of the ball, and it immediately jumped out of the window and swung itself on the Game Corner's roof. Pluto followed suit.

Black walked to the window and looked up, attempting to catch a glimpse of the elusive runner. Then he circled around his desk and sat down, preparing to read everything there was to know about Giovanni. Black's obsession grew every day, as there was something about Giovanni, the devious master manipulator whose competitors shuddered at the sheer mention of his name. How could Black hope to become as good as him…

* * *

_**January 5**__**th**__**, 2097. 11:55 AM. Viridian City Gym, Kanto. **_

After the unfortunate yet ludicrous death of Ethan Gold Hart at the Goldenrod Radio Tower about two years ago, Team Rocket regrouped, and become more dangerous than it had ever been. Rocket Grunts doing their own thing to enforce order were a common a sight, and trainers all around Kanto and Johto filed complaints about missing Pokémon. The privately funded authorities and security firms were hopelessly outnumbered by Team Rocket, an organization with nearly ten thousand members.

Their headquarters were the Viridian City Gym. Once Giovanni had returned, he _persuaded_ the current gym leader, Blue, to hand over the deed to the gym. Now, one could say that the Earthbadge was out of everyone's reach. The years of training that Giovanni did had not gone to waste, as Giovanni's team of Pokémon was exceptionally good. Today, he would battle against a yet another challenger.

Due to overenthusiastic trainers wanting to challenge Giovanni, there was so much traffic around the gym that trainers had to make appointments, and even then, they were only allowed to challenge Giovanni if they had at least seven badges already.

A generic youngster with a normal set of Pokémon had made an appointment for 11 AM, but Giovanni had kept him waiting for almost an hour. The battle arena in the Viridian Gym was otherwise conventional, except that Giovanni battled trainers from his own platform that was much higher than the challenger's. Giovanni also made sure that his own face would be obscured by a shadow most of the time as he scratched his Persian carelessly and occasionally gave orders to his Pokémon.

The youngster finally saw what he wanted: two of Giovanni's bodyguards escorting him towards his boxing ring-style platform. Giovanni snapped his fingers, and his bodyguards left the room instantly. He tried to withhold from smirking as he saw his puny challenger.

"Welcome to the Viridian Gym, challenger!" he announced, and his deep voice echoed in the otherwise empty gym. "

Giovanni was still tall and muscular, complete with a classy suit and a suave, black haircut. But the rugged good looks in his face were gone, and the only scars he carried now were the scars remaining from extensive plastic surgery that he had to apply over the years, making him even more of an imposing figure with his creepy, perfectly symmetrical face.

"I trust you have been briefed at the door," Giovanni continued to frighten the youngster. "You can use all the Pokémon on your person, and there are no restrictions related to what you can or can not do. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes…" the youngster stuttered. "And I'm not a-afraid of you!"

"We'll see," Giovanni said. "In case you are not aware, I am Giovanni, the leader of this gym."

"And I'm a youngster," the apparently nameless youngster said. "Hi! I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear. Hey, wait a minute… you're not wearing shorts!"

"Oh, why me?" Giovanni lamented after realizing what kind of person he was up against. "All right, well, let's begin. As I said, you may use all the Pokémon on your person. I am satisfied with three. _Dugtrio, go_!"

Calmly, Giovanni sat on his throne-esque chair as he commanded his Pokémon with very few words. Against Giovanni's Dugtrio, the youngster had a Farfetch'd, which he liked to call 'Dux' and what he got in a very reasonable trade.

"Dux! Fly high and avoid contact with the Dugtrio! Then use Slash!"

"Dugtrio," Giovanni commanded quietly. "Rock Slide."

Dugtrio was faster, and Farfetch'd ability to fly did absolutely nothing as Dugtrio started to glow. Walls around the gym shattered, and huge chunks of cement were hurled towards the Farfetch'd, that was knocked out instantly.

"You still have five Pokémon left, I presume," Giovanni remarked coldly as the horrified youngster recalled his Farfetch'd. "But you can use more at a time, if you have the ability to do so."

"Ugh… fine!" the youngster panicked and grabbed two Poké Balls from his belt. "Arbok, Poliwrath, go!"

When faced with these two, Giovanni recalled his Dugtrio. He then gave a curt nod to his Persian, who started stretching itself, then jumped on the arena.

"Charge!" the youngster yelled when he seemed to be out of attacks.

His plan was for Arbok to wrap the Persian with its tail and for Poliwrath to finish it with a Dynamicpunch. But Persian avoided Arbok's tail by jumping out of the way, then lunged towards Arbok and bit it its head. Arbok let out a pained hiss before collapsing, leaving Poliwrath alone against Giovanni's Persian.

"Poliwrath, Hydro Pump!" the youngster screamed.

But Persian dodged this attack with ease, too.

"Persian, Hyper Beam," Giovanni said calmly.

With its cat-like elegance, Persian was more than a match to the slow, clunky Poliwrath. The tadpole Pokémon did not have time to dodge as Persian's destructive beam of energy hit it and completely annihilated Poliwrath.

"Looks like three of your Pokémon are unable to battle now," Giovanni said, simply stating the obvious to further unsettle the youngster. "If you wish to continue, I have time. The Earthbadge will not be yours until you defeat at least three of my Pokémon, however."

Saddened, the youngster recalled his Arbok and Poliwrath and looked up at Giovanni, almost crying - his dreams of getting into the Indigo Plateau had been crushed with such remarkable ease…

"_I give up_!" the youngster wailed. "You win, okay? I just want to go…"

"Not yet," Giovanni said. "The rules of this gym were clearly written on the door, and if you didn't read them thoroughly, it's your loss. We are officially recognized by the Pokémon League, and therefore all trainers must follow our rules. Whoever loses must give away one of their Pokémon. That is the law."

"_What_? No! But I can't… you can't make me choose… I thought… but…"

"My associates will help you make your choice, I am sure," Giovanni said and snapped his fingers again.

A door opened behind the youngster, and two Rocket Grunts grabbed his arms and started dragging the defeated youngster into another room. After simply observing this coldly, Giovanni signaled Persian to follow him.

Giovanni entered the second floor of the gym, and went into his office. Allowing the Persian to sit on his luxurious couch, Giovanni himself walked behind his desk, and used the intercom to call his secretary.

"Ms. Ariana," he said smoothly, "is my twelve o'clock around? That grunt I was supposed to promote?"

"_Yes, sir, he is_," the secretary replied. "_I let him into your office just five minutes ago, I told him to wait for you. Is he… not there?_"

"Thank you. That is all, Ms. Ariana."

"_But sir-_"

Giovanni closed his intercom, stood up and eyed his office cautiously. Whoever he was supposed to meet had hidden himself well. There were no closets or cupboards in the office to hide in, there was no one hidden behind the curtains and certainly no one had hidden himself into the couch, seeing as Persian was just sharpening its claws against the cushions.

"All right, whoever you are!" Giovanni said loudly, but still sounded unshaken. "You have impressed me enough. Come forth!"

No one replied, but his intercom buzzed again. Impatiently, Giovanni kept his finger on the button and spoke to the intercom:

"Ms. Ariana, I wish to be left alone, please-"

"_This is not your secretary, master Giovanni, though in our busy times, who can tell anymore?_"

Giovanni heard a robust, scratchy male voice from the intercom, and assumed that it was the grunt he was supposed to meet.

"You hide yourself well," Giovanni praised. "Who am I speaking to?"

As a response to that question, a Rocket Grunt crashed into the room from the ventilation duct above, his Victreebel using a vine to lower him into the office. The grunt was at least just as tall and physically fit as Giovanni himself was, and was probably at least twenty years younger to boot. He wore the standard Team Rocket uniform, though he covered his eyes with a domino mask for no apparent reason. He had messy, dark brown hair, a ridiculously large moustache and an unshaven chin. He also wore custom-made, black, fingerless gloves.

"Fernando is my name, and mayhem is my game!" the grunt announced and bowed. "My talents and powers are yours to use, master Giovanni. But beware, for I am no humble cat's paw, but a crusader, a knight in gray armor. I will spy on, brutalize and kill people for you, my lord, but you may never ask me to forget my morals. Do I make myself clear?"

"Quite perfectly," Giovanni smiled and gave his hand for Fernando to shake.

Fernando seemed to misunderstand the gesture, as he kneeled down and kissed Giovanni's palm instead. Giovanni decided to forgive this, and sat down behind his desk while gesturing Fernando to take a seat as well.

"No thank you," Fernando proclaimed as he made Victreebel return into its ball, "I wish to stand, as you never know when the enemy decides to ambush you. At this very moment, _someone_ might be watching…"

Fernando looked around him warily, and the confused Giovanni did the same. When Giovanni was looking in another direction, Fernando quickly stole a pen from his desk.

"Well, either way," Giovanni said upon resuming eye contact with Fernando, "if you are that keen to get a promotion, I may have a job for you. From what I have seen so far, you're the right man for the job, _Fernando_… assuming that is your real name?"

"It is now!" Fernando announced. "Some say that the months of torment by the hands of the people here have pushed me into insanity. Their claims might not be entirely unfounded, but rest assured, I will get the best of them… I had another name once, but that person is dead. Fernando has taken his place, and he actually looks good while he does it!"

"My concern is a security leak," Giovanni said. "Someone inside is giving information directly to the hands of the enemy. If one of my operations would be discovered, that would spell disaster for all of us, and we don't want that, don't we?"

"Boldly, I am going to assume that the answer you are seeking for is 'no'."

"It is," Giovanni said. "Interrogate all the executives, find out who's talking. You'll know what to do with the one who does. Then there's another thing… do you know of the Magnum Concilium?"

"Ah, yes, the 'Committee'," Fernando said while making air quotes with his fingers. "A group of immensely powerful individuals who control everything that the Pokémon League, and by extension, the entire Pokémon World, does. I have dismissed that claim."

"From what I have heard, it's reality," Giovanni said. "We must accept it, and I, for one, am going to take advantage of the situation. For quite a while now, I have been attempting to get a seat. But they keep routinely rejecting me for whatever reason. I have gathered enough information to find out that the Committee has poured millions into some organization called Sledge Hammer. I need _you_ to find out what it is."

Fernando saluted.

"It would be my honor," he said. "I will begin my investigations immediately! Rest assured, master Giovanni, you may sleep easy from now on."

And as Fernando turned to leave, he bumped his head on the doorknob. After stumbling around for a few seconds, he finally got a grip of himself so he could open the door and make a quick exit.

**_

* * *

_**

**_January 8th. Sledge Hammer HQ, Dr. Krane's office_**

As the work that Krane did as the staff psychologist wasn't entirely adequate, Krane was also assigned with most of the bureaucratic crap that Sledge Hammer and Extranormal Operations had to wade through. Now, he had to pay a humongous bill sent by Professor Hastings. Not to mention a whole lot of paperwork involving the recent activities by the agents.

Then, all of the sudden, his phone started ringing. At first, Krane was just confused - almost as if he had forgotten the sound. It took him a few seconds, but he finally found the phone buried under piles of paper.

"Doctor Paul Krane speaking," Krane answered the phone, insisting on mentioning his doctorate at every turn. "How may I help you? What? Well, actually I'm quite busy now… oh… I see… well, all right, I'll be there as soon as I can!"

* * *

Krane had to be flown into his destination with one of the Fearow that Sledge Hammer used in case of emergencies. His destination was in Isshu, specifically in Hiun City.

Though he had lived his whole life in Isshu, Krane had never been to this city, and the moment he saw it, he began to wonder why. Hiun was a huge seaside metropolis located in south central Isshu. Enormous cruisers were seen departing from the harbor while the inner parts of the city were surrounded by fifty-story high skyscrapers that formed gigantic office blocks that kept the residential areas and smaller shops in their shadow.

Krane was on his way to see the famous Committee. They did not, in fact, reside in the most spectacular skyscraper of them all, but they preferred to stay in an office building that, on the outside, looked like any other. But as Krane stepped in, he had to walk through a series of adjacent rooms, constantly having to through some level of security. First, he needed to be scanned. Then, his voice had to be analyzed. Finally, he had to insert his employee key card.

Finally, Krane stepped into a room that was bigger than anything he had seen before. It was very poorly lit, as the walls around him seemed pitch-black. Similarly, he couldn't see the ceiling, just a black void. The room was dominated by a humongous, at least sixty feet tall pyramid-shaped structure. It was divided into three levels, and it served as a platform for the Committee members to sit on. At the lowest level, there were security personnel, technicians and unimportant, non-Committee members. They were only about ten feet high, so Krane only had to look up a bit to talk to them. Twenty feet higher, there was another level, where most of the Committee members sat. Finally, there was the highest level, but it was too dark for Krane to see there properly. Krane imagined the chairman of the Committee to sit there on his throne.

Visibility was otherwise low, but this was aided by a huge projection screen on the wall, the size of those seen in cinemas. The face of a Japanese executive was projected on the screen, and his voice boomed in the darkness. Without wishing to invoke any racial stereotypes, Krane found it hard describing the executive's likeness: mostly obscured by a shadow, the Japanese executive looked basically just like that: a generic Japanese person: glasses, short black hair, suit.

"Welcome, Dr. Krane," the executive said, "to the office of the Magnum Concilium."

Another executive popped on the screen. This one was female and red-haired, though similarly nondescript, cordial and hidden in the shadows. The only thing that stood out was the cigarette that she held in her hands. Her origin was revealed by her British accent.

"We have gathered here to represent the Kawachi Corporation," she said, "and we come from all of the important parts of the world. Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the United States, Germany, Italy and France. And of course, many important businessmen from Atlantica have also honored this place with their presence, including Mr. Goodshow from the Pokémon League and Mr. Blake Hall, the CEO of the Altru Corporation."

"Those what you call the '_important_' parts?" Krane wondered.

Another, apparently a German, slightly older executive appeared on the screen.

"Let us proceed immediately to the point, doctor," the executive said, and his voice thundered all around the chamber. "You have been given a great honor. Not many are allowed to see the faces of this Committee. And the reason for your invitation is simple."

The French executive, a stuck-up-looking, blonde-haired woman, was the next to appear on the screen, though her voice was just as intimidating as the others'.

"We received the profiles of these so-called '_Extranormal Operatives_'" the French executive murmured - even though her accent wasn't too strong, Krane was still enticed by it. "And we have to applaud you for your excellent job. However, we may require more. The staff of Sledge Hammer worries us, and most of the high-level personnel seems suspicious. Surely someone of your skills could pay close attention to them, perhaps compile similar profiles of them, too."

"And this Kaminko," the British executive said. "His track record is impressing, but his motives are unsettling. We have to make sure that we know everything about him before we allow him to continue!"

"Are you suggesting I'd spy on professor Kaminko?" Krane yelled.

"We know that you are quite, ah, fond of him," the British executive remarked with a sly smile, "and trust us, we do not wish to make him less trusting of you. That is why we're going to ask you to do it in secret. We can observe him on our own if he wish, but we do not have anyone close to him… yet."

"Give me one good reason why I should do it!" Krane shouted and was already slowly backing towards the door.

"Don't forget that the success of your organization depends completely on our resources!" the Japanese executive reminded. "We can decide who is _cut_ from the project if we think we need to save money, and those who are not crucial to the project are expendable!"

"Crud…" Krane muttered. "Fine! I don't like this but… I'll find something out about Kaminko. And the rest of them."

"You will not go unrewarded," said the German executive. "Now leave, doctor. We wish to discuss in private."

Krane turned to leave, but right at the door, he looked up, to the darkness and to the highest level of the pyramid. Though he could see traces of the other executives, the man in charge remained in the dark. Unable to see him, Krane decided to just go, wondering just how far did this little '_plan_' reach…


	9. From The Files of Dr Krane

_**FROM THE FILES OF DR. KRANE**_

_**Personal note from Dr. Krane**_: As requested, here are brief profiles of selected members of the Sledge Hammer staff. I also managed to have an interview Cheren Black. This information better be worth it…

**Subject #6  
**Name: _Jacob Roderick Kaminko  
_Title: _Pokémon Professor, Sledge Hammer's Commander-in-chief  
_Date of Birth: _February 20__th__, 2038_  
Birthplace: _Phenac City, Orre_

Subject's past is no mystery. It is well known that the subject served as a member of the Seven Sages during the Poké-Human war. This outstanding hero may have been the team's science expert, but his superior knowledge of the Pokémon allowed him to easily take out hundreds of those little bastards!

Though the Seven Sages were later led to an ambush, which apparently caused the deaths of everyone but the subject and fellow unit member Surge, subject's mind seems to be in perfect condition - he did discover Pokémonology, found a priceless new metal and invented the freaking Poké Ball! I am unable to find any past records about relationships, but this just goes to show how dedicated this wonderful man is to his job.

Monitoring not necessary. Honest!

**Subject #7  
**Name: _Touko White  
_Title: _Agent 02, Extranormal Operations (currently works as Drill Instructor)  
_Date of Birth: _December 29__th__, 2067  
_Birthplace: _Kanoko Town, Isshu_

Subject raised in apparently normal conditions in Isshu. However, incidents show that her family history is a little more complicated. Apparently, her uncle died in the Pokémon-Human war, and when the subject was only four years old, her father was eaten by a Carnivine. This was one of those Pokémon-related incidents that were only documented years afterwards, and only then were picked as signals of Pokémon aggression.

Subject shows hostility to Pokémon and humans alike. Relatively promiscuous past, and a habit of making less-than-innocent double entendres in the presence of me shows that the subject approaches sex quite casually. Past partners include subject #11, along with former agent Touya Zero, currently MIA, presumed deceased.

The loss of this agent happened during a mission that he was completing with the subject, but only the subject herself returned from the site, covered in blood and refusing to talk to anyone. After a month of therapy, she started talking again, but is no longer functional as an Operative - moved to the field of training, weapons handling and security instead. Subject's behavior also changed radically during therapy. Additional sessions required.

Surveillance not vital, but recommendable. Subject has not left the grounds since returning from the disastrous mission.

SIDENOTE: Reactions to Project Genesect might turn out to be unwanted - must be kept in the dark.

**Subject #8  
**Name: _Gareth Elm  
_Title: _Pokémon Professor, Sledge Hammer's Staff Manager & Intelligence Officer  
_Date of Birth: _April 1__st__, 2064  
_Birthplace: _New Bark Town, Johto_

Subject was in Pokémon U around the same time as the prestigious professor Cozmo… I'm sorry, I mean, professor Cosmoblumenthalstein-Atkinson. Though he has only been a qualified Pokémon Researcher for eight years now, his work has been lauded, and in 2091, he was made the regional professor of Johto instead of his rival, Cozmo.

Subject shows exceptional Pokémon knowledge and skills in the fields of physics and Pokémonology… apparently. Though the subject seems relatively well-adjusted on the surface, questions raised about his family life make the subject uncomfortable. Subject makes compromises incredibly easily and seems to be afraid to talk back most of the time. More sessions required.

No surveillance necessary, but because the guy pisses me off so much, I'd say that you should keep an eye on him anyway.

**Subject #9  
**Name: _Blaine (no first name given)  
_Title: _Pokémon (ex-)Researcher, Sledge Hammer's Security Officer & Geneticist  
_Date of Birth: _October 1__st__, 2044  
_Birthplace: _Cinnabar Island, Kanto_

Subject studied in Orre Polytechnic and later, in the Phenac City University privately funded by Mayor Es Cade. Subject became a geneticist and started his work at the Cinnabar Pokémon Laboratory in 2072 under the administration of Doctor Fuji. When previous work at the laboratory is mentioned, subject shows reluctant and unease. Additional research may be required, but files on former employees are sealed. However, one such event was publicized after Pokémon Trainer Red discovered files in the abandoned, burned-down laboratory.

In 2090, private entrepreneur Giovanni funded an experiment which was supposed to lead to the cloning of legendary Pokémon Mew. Subject was a member of the science team led by Dr. Fuji JR, and subject was behind the Mewtwo Project, which ended up to the creation of a monstrous new Pokémon, the destruction of the old lab and the death of Fuji JR. Afterwards, subject retired (or was forced to retire) and became Cinnabar's gym leader.

Physically, subject is remarkably healthy for a 52-year old man. However, subject is also prone to paranoia, conspiracy theories, delusions and hallucinations, some of these which are controlled with medicine. Subject has repeatedly refused additional therapy, saying that his "meds are enough, now scram before I blow your [censored] head off."

NOTE: Currently the he head of Project Genesect. Though subject stays in the Sledge Hammer base on his own volition, additional surveillance nevertheless recommended.

**Subject #10  
**Name: _Toshiko Araragi_  
Title: _Pokémon Professor, Head of Sledge Hammer R&D  
_Date of Birth: _November 22__nd__, 2048  
_Birthplace: _Kanoko Town, Isshu_

One of the many students of the legendary Professor Rowan, subject studied Pokémonology in Isshu Academy during the years 2070-2075. During the modernization of the Isshu region in the 2080's, subject became the regional professor. Highly respected by her peers in the scientific community.

On the outside, the subject is almost eerily well-adjusted when compared to fellow members in the R&D department. But by every session, subject has expressed self-doubt, self-hatred and anxiety. Signs of distress show when left alone for extended periods of time. Subject is prone to surrounding herself with other people. May need additional sessions.

Surveillance necessary to prevent deliberate self-harm. Subject is vital to the success of Sledge Hammer.

**Subject #11  
**Name: _Cheren Black  
_Title: _Vice President of Galaxy Incorporated, Information Trader, Data Merchant  
_Date of Birth: _May 10__th__, 2067  
_Birthplace: _Kanoko Town, Isshu_

Though not a member of the staff, interview with the subject was established when the subject came by for a routine visit.

From what we know of the subject's past, he was in the Kanoko Trainer School like subject #7. It is likely that the two had a relationship of sorts, though subject #7 refuses to speak of the matter, and recent developments have shown that the subject only dated White in order to hide his actual identity from others.

Subject is charming and polite, and agreed to do the interview with no strings attached, but further in the session, it became apparent that whenever a personal question was asked from him, he somehow evaded it in a roundabout fashion. Clever, as it took me quite a while to realize this. As far actually relevant information goes, he seems committed to Sledge Hammer's cause. He has political influence and is well known in the business world, making him useful.

Nonetheless, may require surveillance, as he is known to be seeing Agent Nine, Shane Stephens, at the moment.

_**[End of Report]**_


	10. Genesect

_**GENESECT**_

**February 10****th**** 2097, 10:23 AM. Karakusa Town, Isshu.**

This beautiful town in southeastern Isshu was where Kris and Shane would begin their first mission. Though the trip there was _loooooooooooong_, it was definitely worth the twenty hours on a Fearow. Upon landing to Karakusa, Kris and Shane came across an unpleasant surprise, as they found themselves ankle-deep in snow.

After putting on some winter gear, Kris and Shane scanned their surroundings and stretched a bit, as the trip was a relatively unpleasant experience. Nevertheless, Kris was happy just to be outside. The winter air biting her nose and cheeks felt refreshing, and the snow-covered region looked breathtakingly beautiful, no matter where one were. Shane, of course, was the man to go for ruining the mood:

"I know it's February," he said, shivering, "but why the hell is it so cold here? I mean, it's still a solid seventy degrees back in Johto! Fahrenheit, I mean. Probably."

"For reasons unknown to man, Isshu apparently has seasons," Kris said. "There is absolutely no explanation I can offer to why there aren't any in all of the other regions."

"Oh, so this place has _seasons_," Shane grumbled. "Well, that makes up for everything! Why bother changing anything in the core or changing the formula at least a little when you got _seasons_! That nifty little feature makes up for _everything_!"

"What are you talking about, Shane?"

"Just something off the top of my head. Bottom line: it's cold in here. We better find shelter."

"You up for a little afternoon delight, Shane?" Kris asked and pointed at the nearby bar.

__Shane replied to this with a blank stare.

"Drinks!" Kris explained. "At the bar! Over there! Where I'm pointing at! Should I draw a picture?"

"That's not _quite_ what it means, Kris…"

"Whatever, that's what _I _meant anyway," Kris said. "Now, my body temperature is rapidly dropping here, so are we going in or what?"

Deciding not to waste their breath to further bickering, as there was plenty of time to do that in the bar, Kris and Shane stepped into the bar known as _The Brown Glass_. The locals called it 'the best bar in Karakusa'. People from elsewhere called it 'the only bar in Karakusa'. But did it really matter? Both factions were right, after all…

As Kris and Shane stepped in, they were already having second thoughts. The place was, unlikely usually, filled with people. Everyone in the bar, including the bartender, were focused on someone standing a table and holding a pompous speech, though many were also whispering things to each other. Besides that, the place was at least warm and inviting. Kris could swear that she suddenly started hearing singing inside her head the moment she stepped in: '_Where everybody knows your name…_'

Two men, an older, bald one and a younger, bespectacled one, were not focused on the speech-holding guy, however. The bald one was passionately telling some kind of story, while the younger one nodded occasionally while doing a crossword puzzle.

"Hey, if you'd quit running your mouth for a moment, help me out with this one," the younger guy said. "Top-down, six letters: 'suspends blood cells'. Gee, that's a tough one…"

"Who cares about that right now?" the older guy argued. "I was just telling how once, during the war, I got into a brawl with Metagross. Armed with nothing but my bare hands, I first thumbwrestled it to the ground, then sunk my claws into it… a rough battle, but I emerged victorious…"

"Okay, let's try the one that intersects here. Three letters: 'specializes in espionage'. Umm… agent? Man, I'm bad at these…"

"Don't get me started on agents! They're everywhere, I tell you! The Pokémon are not quick to forget. Some of them might be spying on us right now! Or maybe they have sent humans who are actually controlled by Hypnosis or whatever mind control those critters do! I saw that myself! It's how I got this scar…"

Kris saw that there was also one additional person who was not listening to the speech-holder, and who quickly hid his face behind a newspaper in a poor attempt to fit in. Though standard procedure was to walk up to the guy and ask him a few questions, Kris was just too tired to do that. Instead, she and Shane grabbed seats close to the man holding the speech.

Whoever it was, he had a deep, thunderous voice that Kris and Shane could hear even over the banter between the other customers. The old but surprisingly tall and rugged man had platinum-blonde, shoulder-length hair and the most bizarre garment that certainly made him appear even bigger than he was. He wore some kind of decorative robe that was primarily coated with gold- and blue-colored ornaments, but whatever (if anything) he wore underneath it was left to the imagination.

"…as they said in the ancient scrolls, in the old writings left behind by our precursors," the man spoke, having apparently done so for quite a while, "mankind will be punished for its greed, its ignorance, its cruelty and its arrogance. We may claim to be superior, but as we do so, we have stomped on the head of a species much more fit to lead than us. Coexistence will fail, people! I am warning you!"

The more this man spoke, the less people seemed to listen, and slowly but surely, people started leaving the bar. Every time the door was opened by someone leaving, the cold breeze made the man's robe and hair move, as if they were floating, only further enhancing his dramatic image.

"Can you feel it, my brothers and sisters? The breeze of change is upon us!" he announced and held his hand in the air. "The first punishment is at hand: Isshu will soon be plagued by an eternal winter! The punishment for our greed is at hand, when the harsh winter will destroy our food! The Pokémon will be able to survive, and they will reclaim what is theirs!"

After this, everyone that were listening started leaving, and Kris and Shane could hear them mumbling about the mad prophet:

"Did you smell that guy?"

"What a hippie. Get a haircut!"

"Tell me about it! What's he gonna do now, hunt down every trainer in the region and force them to release their Pokémon or something?"

Left 'alone' with the prophet, the bartender, the two guys at the counter and the mysterious man behind the newspaper, Kris and Shane approached the prophet, and Shane was particularly interested in his speech, even if he hadn't understood anything.

"Who are you?" Shane asked.

"Does thou have to ask my name? Hast thou not suffered from the recent afflictions, as has all of Atlantica? For I am Goetis, and alas, our resident townsfolk have not heeded my words. When the promised time is at hand, they will know of their mistake, and they will regret. Amen."

"Amen," Kris said and nodded. "Now, if thou hast not anything important to say, could thou be so kind and move thy presence the hell away from this establishment?"

"Don't listen to her," Shane said. "One of _those_ days again, am I right? Anyway, could you mind explaining what you were saying just now. But please, say it slowly, more coherently, slowly, using smaller words, and most importantly, slowly."

"Very well, my young friends, but the prophet's mouth is feeling as dry as… as…"

Goetis had a hard time coming up with a metaphor, so Shane finished it for him:

"As Kris' gusset?"

Calmly, Kris picked up a salt shaker from the table and smashed it on Shane's head. Shane simply laughed it away. Goetis eyed the two with interest as he ordered himself a vodka martini. Which Kris had to pay, of course. Initially, Kris and Shane only watched him drink.

"So," Shane said after Goetis' glass was empty, rubbing his head, "what _were_ you talking about back there?"

"I was attempting to rally the townspeople into joining my cause," Goetis said excitedly, the drink having loosened his tongue sufficiently. "So far, I have had minimal success, but one of these days, people _will_ know the truth. The first punishment is already here, and the second one is right around the corner…"

"What?"

"Ignorance!" Goetis thundered and slammed the table with his palm. "Just look at the mistakes we have made: we charged blindly into the Pokémon-Human war, and just as we were at the brink of peaceful coexistence, mankind repeats its failures and is attempting to plunge humans into a yet another conflict, and for what? I cannot comprehend this… the punishment that awaits us will be far worse than anything before - we are plunged into a never-ending mad cycle, one that repeats itself over and over until we finally understand, or until we all die."

Goetis licked around his glass and attempted to suck it entirely dry, then finally put it back on the table.

"Regardless of what happens," he said, "I thank you, my young friends, for listening and for buying me this drink. Hopefully, I have at least managed to convert someone…"

Goetis stood up and left the bar. The moment the door was closed again, Shane turned back to Kris.

"Wacko," he said.

"Yeah, I guess," Kris muttered. "And it's not like he told me anything that I didn't know before. We're all morons, I get it!"

"So, how does White assume we're going to find those… what were they? _Plasmas_?"

"Beats me," Kris shrugged. "I'm just here to get some fresh air. Another day indoors and you could stick a fork in me…"

"At least you got to wear your civvies now!"

Kris grabbed a folder from her pocket, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper. She let out a deep sigh as she looked at the file of Team Plasma.

"Well, I guess we have to do this," she said. "The deadline that White gave us was bad enough, and we have no idea where to start looking."

"I wonder if they serve cranberry long drinks here," Shane wondered out loud.

"Shane!" Kris snarled. "_Pay attention_! Okay, Team Plasma. A group of terrorists with a sacred mission of liberating Pokémon from their trainers, blah blah blah, '_we demand justice, and we're going to kill innocents and blow up buildings to prove it_'-style philosophies, nutcase destroying cages and breaking into test labs… pfft! These guys are a minor annoyance at best!"

"My hunger isn't," Shane said. "Do you think I'd get any sushi here?"

"I thought you didn't like anything that is even remotely Japanese…remember what happened at that arcade a few years ago?"

"Yeah, but Black eats sushi," Shane said, then sighed and started daydreaming. "Oh, Black… you should really meet that guy! I know we've only been out two times, but I really think we're bonding!"

"Did he give you any money yet?" Kris asked.

"_What_?" Shane shouted. It's almost as if he had taken offense, as he was staring at Kris with a horrified look on his face. "You think _that's_ the reason why I date him? Slander! Can't you think of a reason I'd date Black that _isn't_ money?"

Now it was Kris' turn to stare blankly, and Shane took this opportunity to start daydreaming about Black again. Kris sighed.

"Look, I know you still haven't forgiven me for what happened," Kris said. "I know that it's my fault that you got dragged into this operation."

"I dunno," Shane said nonchalantly. "I don't have time to hold silly grudges about something like _that_."

"Good," Kris said. "Then you could at least take this operation seriously. Stop making me buy drinks to old people and daydreaming about Cheren Black!"

"Sorry, Kris, but I have divided our jobs pretty clearly before we started," Shane said. "You come up with strategies, do the thinking and battle against people if we have to. I just weaken foes with my powerful charisma…"

Kris slammed her head on the desk.

She also wasn't able to come up with a strategy, so the duo decided to just travel around the town and ask locals about these Plasma whatchamacallits. As Kris and Shane walked out of the bar, the man behind his newspaper twitched. As soon as the door was shut behind the duo, the man got up as well and started to follow them.

It didn't take long for Kris to realize this, and once the duo had walked far enough to be out of earshot from everyone else in Karakusa, Kris turned around so swiftly that Shane continued walking for a several yards before realizing what happened.

"What is it?" he asked.

"That guy," Kris said as she stared at the lone figure following them.

The tall man clad entirely in black stopped as well. For a moment, he stared at Kris and Shane, and the duo stared right back. This extended scene went on quite a while until Kris finally decided to stop it:

"Okay, I think this is mysterious enough," she said. "I have a few questions. One: who the hell are you? And B: Why are you following us?"

"_Why_?" parroted the man, his voice muffled by the layers of black scarves he wore over his mouth. "_This _is why!"

The man threw away the piles of scarves that made his figure appear bigger, revealing a tall, dark man with a huge moustache and a domino mask His jaw was unshaven, as always, and if he was trying to pose as 'someone who isn't a Team Rocket member', he was failing pathetically, what with the huge, red 'R' in his shirt.

"For _I_ am Fernando… oh, fudge, I screwed that up… I was supposed to use introduction number eighteen… nevertheless, Fernando is my name and mayhem is my game. Fernando, the force of destruction, will always offer the best introspection through his complex perception. So, prepare for a open-armed reception to the master of deception iniates your abduction… 'cuz my van is waiting around the corner."

Kris and Shane stared at him. Shane looked at his wrist until he realized that he had forgotten to wear his Pokétch today. Nonetheless…

"Well, according to my wrist, you talked way longer than is realistically possible with a single breath," Shane said, "how did you not pass out?"

"Irrelevant!" Fernando announced triumphantly. "Now, I would positively _hate_ to make BBQ-meat out of you guys, so why not just give up now? Kaythanksbye!"

Kris sighed again and checked her own Pokétch.

"We have a job to do here, creep," she said. "If you don't have any knowledge regarding Team Plasma, then just leave us alone. I've had enough weirdness for one day."

"At least tell us what you want," Shane said. "I mean, are you trying to sell us bibles, or vacuum cleaners or what? And who do you work for?"

Kris buried her face in her hands and decided to go into her happy place for a moment to avoid having to deal with Shane.

"I work for no one," Fernando boasted, "the great Fernando is only here to please himself!"

"Ew!"

"Besides," Kris added to Shane's comment, "that would be a whole lot convincing if we… well, if _I_ wouldn't already know that you work for Team Rocket…"

"What?" Fernando asked, then looked at his shirt and cursed. "Damn… well, regardless, I can bludgeon pretty hard. So, either come with me as I take you to my master, or I'll have to tie and gag you. Though, I gotta warn you: I might do it either way."

"I guess there's no choice but to surrender," Shane said and shrugged. "No ropes, though, they burn! It's handcuffs or nothing!"

"Shut up, Shane!" Kris snapped. "Look, Mr. Fernando, we aren't going anywhere with you, GTFO!"

Fernando took a deep breath and then casually took a Poké Ball from his pocket, all the while chatting with the duo quite normally:

"Very well, m'lady, if this is how you want to play it… we shall battle to the death. As an honorable samurai-ninja-cowboy-knight-warrior-guy, I must be polite and give you a warning: I'm rather excellent. Like a Spinarak, I can climb on walls and reach places you haven't dreamed of. Like a Zubat, I can lurk in the shadows of the night and wait for an opportunity to wreak havoc. And like a Ditto, I can-"

"Too much information, man," Kris interrupted. "Are we going to fight or not?"

"Ariados, go!"

"Croc, go!"

Both Fernando and Kris sent out their Pokémon. Kris' Totodile immediately started hopping around, ecstatic to be out of it's ball. It paid no attention to its enemy, a gigantic, reddish, four-legged spider with a venomous horn on its head. Nevertheless, Fernando decided to wait until Kris was ready, smiling and twirling his moustache around his fingers. This made Kris want to forget about protocol and just punch him in the face.

"Croc, stop jumping around and pay attention!" Kris screamed at her Pokémon who had merrily left the battlefield, and wasn't pleased when it had to return. "Use Water Gun, now!"

"Ariados, Scary Face!"

Fernando gave out his command faster than Kris could even finish hers, allowing Ariados to give a shiver-inducing glare at Croc, who shuddered and covered its eyes, unwilling to fight.

"Now, Spider Web!"

Ariados spewed thin, white, gooey silk out of its mouth, using it to ensnare Totodile completely, leaving it helpless. As Kris was distracted by her Pokémon's predicament, Fernando demonstrated his Pokémon-synchronization powers by jumping towards Shane with terrifying speed and accuracy. Fernando grabbed Shane by his throat and held him in a stranglehold, and quickly ran to Kris, doing the same to her. With both Kris and Shane in his grip, Fernando recalled Ariados. It was time to finish the job, but Fernando couldn't resist taunting Kris and Shane a bit further.

"_These_ are the famed Extranormal Operatives that the Committee is pouring money at?" Fernando asked himself out loud and then let out an exaggerated laughter. "This took out probably three minutes or so. I'm… disappointed."

"How do you know that we're Operatives?" Shane wheezed as he struggled in Fernando's grip.

"Hey, even if I didn't do such a good job at disguising myself, I wasn't as bad as _you_," Fernando laughed, "I mean, back at the bar, you just couldn't shut up for even a few seconds!"

"I haven't seen any of this money," Kris croaked and coughed when Fernando tightened his grip. "Hey, could you let go at any point?"

"No, sorry," Fernando said politely. "If you're conscious, I can't take you to my boss, can I?"

"I'd prefer if you didn't," Shane said, and started fumbling around his pockets.

"And why's that?"

"This," Shane said and opened his Poké Ball. "_Taste armadillo, friend_!"

Shrew jumped out of its ball, and lunged at Fernando, its tiny claws scratching Fernando's face and every other part of his body that it could reach. Fernando tried to throw Shrew away, but it concluded by smacking Fernando in the face with its tail before jumping away. Fernando held his bleeding face in agony, but was not out of the game yet.

"Shane, I have an idea!" Kris yelled quickly as she and Shane were released from the grip. "Tell Shrew to use Defense Curl!"

"You heard the girl, Shrew!" Shane shouted in panic. "Do it!"

Shrew nodded and curled itself into a ball. Kris took a few steps back, and just as Fernando was reaching for a Poké Ball, Kris started running towards Shrew and punted the Pokémon with her leg, sending it flinging towards Fernando like a soccer ball. As Shrew hit Fernando's face, the man fell on the ground unconscious. A slightly disoriented Shrew uncurled itself and quickly ran back to Shane, who looked at Kris in horror.

"Don't kick my Pokémon!" he cried.

"Sorry, Shrew," Kris said as she helped Totodile out of the sticky Ariados string, "but there was no other way. At least we manage to knock him out cold for a moment."

"I guess so," Shane shrugged. "Who _was_ that guy? Why would Team Rocket be interested in _us_?"

"I don't know, but I got the sudden urge of returning to base," Kris said. "We'll say that we didn't find anything. Come on, let's go!"

**

* * *

****Meanwhile, in Sledge Hammer's Laboratory…**

Professor Elm was currently assisting Blaine in what Sledge Hammer administration called 'Project Genesect'. Blaine was so passionately focused on his work that he barely slept three hours a day. But one couldn't argue with his results. Robotic arms were assembling together his finest creation, putting the finishing touches on the body of a biosynthetic life form that Blaine successfully created.

It was a clone of, you guessed it, Genesect, one of the many Pokémon that were already extinct. The prototype of the clone was now hibernating in a gigantic tank filled with purple, thick ooze that kept the new Genesect from waking up. Genesect was purple, and it was about the size of an average human male, and while it had some humanoid characteristics, its head was flat and UFO-shaped. It had two large, vicious-looking red eyes and a small mouth in its otherwise featureless face. It didn't have fingers or toes, just a single, huge claw at the end of each limb. Its body resembled that of Scizor's, only a bit smaller but much more articulate, with much more mobility.

Professor Elm stared at the tank warily, hoping that Blaine would never fully start the project. Blaine, on the other hand, was mesmerized by his creation, and he walked around the tank, staring at the Genesect's ugly face.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Blaine whispered.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Elm said dryly. "Blaine, I'm asking you one more time. Do reconsider this. I know we have orders-"

"Screw orders!" Blaine said gleefully as he circled the tank. "It's more important than that… this is the chance for me to finally atone, to finally complete a successful project. Mewtwo, the glitches, all failures… but this… _magnificent_."

"Exactly!" Elm said and stepped between Blaine and the tank to get Blaine's attention. "Which is why you still ought to reconsider going through with this. And I'm not just talking about the Pokémon… but that _other_ thing…"

"Ah, which brings us to it," Blaine said. "Have you done what I asked?"

Elm sighed despondently.

"Yes," he said.

On the table behind Elm, there was something underneath the blanket that Elm didn't want to think about. But he had to show it to Blaine. Facing to another direction and grimacing, Elm removed the blanket from the table.

On the table, was the pale, badly damaged body of a human man. He was naked, but wrapped entirely in plastic, so that only parts of him were visible anyway, but traces of brown hair were still visible around the head. His eyes were closed, and all over his body were wires and tubes, connected to various machinery. His breathing, his heartbeat, his blood circulation, his bodily waste… everything was kept in check. He was kept alive, but only barely.

"Touya Monta Zero," Blaine muttered. "Agent One. You've done it. He's alive."

"Well, Ein did most of the work," Elm said.

He wasn't trying to be modest - there was just no way he would even consider taking credit for this… thing. Whatever happened to Touya after that disastrous mission with White had torn him up good. Huge chunks of flesh were gone and he had lost many liters of blood. Though he would have been pronounced dead in any hospital, Sledge Hammer's team of medics got to him fast after the incident, and were able to keep him "somewhat" alive. It was believed that Touya would never walk or talk again… until now.

"We have everything ready for the fusion," Blaine said excitedly. "Agent One will be reborn. This is what I call the pinnacle of evolution: human, Pokémon and machine all together."

"_This_ is our future?" Elm asked in disgust, alternating between looking at Touya's body and the Genesect in the tank. "Grim…"

"Grim?" Blaine echoed and stared at Elm in disbelief. "_Grim_? It's beautiful! And remember, this is just a prototype. Just think about a whole squadron of Extranormal Operatives like this one. Just a dream now, but perhaps reality tomorrow…"

Elm didn't respond.

"Now let's get to work!" Blaine told him. "We don't have much time left. Every second counts. Make some coffee!"


	11. Heat Of A Moment

_**HEAT OF A MOMENT**_

**February 12****th ****2097, 9:15 AM, Sledge Hammer HQ**

Kris and Shane ran through the zigzagging corridors of the Sledge Hammer base, right towards the briefing room. After finally reaching it, they stormed right through the door. Lyra, Silver and Lieutenant White had assumed their seats. White stood up as the panting and badly worn duo arrived.

"About time!" White shouted as the two sat down, clutching to their chests. "We called hours ago!"

"We… were… in… _Isshu_!" Kris panted, finding it difficult to sound convincingly angry when she was so out of breath. "Or was it Unova now? Hard to keep track with these changes..."

"Rule number one," White started, but Kris interrupted her:

"_Just how many 'rule number ones' are there_?"

"Okay, rule number whatever," White said, "always make sure you can make a swift getaway, in case of situations like these. Now stop looking like you've just been running a marathon, for crying out loud! The boss is about to contact us!"

"The… boss man… himself?" Shane panted, having overcome his exhaustion only now. "Like… Kaminko?"

"Yes, he runs things around here," White jabbed. "Nice to see you pay attention."

"Guys, please!" Lyra shushed. "He's starting!"

Lyra turned off the lights in the debriefing room. As a projector on the back of the room was suddenly turned on, a hologram of Professor Kaminko materialized in the middle of the room. Apart from White and Kris, none of the Operatives had seen Kaminko in flesh before. Old and turning gray he might have been, but Kaminko's tall, imposing and authoritarian figure was more than enough to get the agents in line. They were all fascinated by his elusiveness, appearing only via a hologram and almost never talking with his underlings.

"_Good to see that you have arrived safely from your last mission, agents Five and Nine_," Kaminko said, calmly yet still with a clear, loud voice. "_We're sending you two, along with agents Six and Seven, to oversee another mission at Stark Mountain. I'm not going to lie to you: it's dangerous_."

"Wait, LT isn't coming with us?" Kris asked.

"I have important things to do _here_," White said. "After all, I have to take the fall when the four of you fail. Feels like I'm hanging on a thread here, I can tell you that."

"_I wish you wouldn't have to go so soon, with so little training_," Kaminko said, "_but we have no time. Heatran has awakened. Though it is currently rampaging inside Stark Mountain, should it launch its destructive attack, the entire Battle Zone along with its thousands of inhabitants will perish._"

"And that's terrible," Shane added.

"Shh!"

"_Your objective is to use whatever means necessary to stop Heatran's rampage. That is all._"

"Wait!" Lyra shouted. "Isn't this better suited for some military guys? I mean, I'll do it if I have to, but come on, even if we had several years of training, there's only four of us!"

"_Extranormal Operations, and by extension, the entire organization of Sledge Hammer, exists for operations such as this one_," Kaminko explained patiently, "_this is our chance to show that our methods, the collaboration of science and nature, humans and Pokémon, work. To put it simply: brains and brawn_."

"We got the deal, sir," White said. "I'll be posted near the radio again, right?"

"_Yes. There's a thick layer of smoke around the Battle Zone, and our Fearow tend to get lost there. The Drifblim are too slow, so we're using a plane. Professor Elm and Blaine will take you there. Visibility is low, but I have calculated the exact location of your landing zone. When you're directly above it, you will do a parachute jump._"

"Ah, the old 'death from the above' trick," White said sycophantically and nodded. "Nice one, sir."

Kaminko ignored White's statement.

"_If you have any further questions, Professor Elm and Blaine will explain everything on the plane. We found a reliable pilot, so you needn't worry. Good luck to all of you._"

* * *

The group did not have much time to prepare. They could only change into their civvies and prep their Pokémon, but after that, they had to get to the airstrip hidden in the woods. It was odd how no one, not even a random hiker, noticed a propeller plane taking off and eventually climbing to the sky.

The plane's pilot wasn't a member of the staff, and they couldn't get many good pilots on such short notice. As such, they took the first person they could get: a shady, tall man with a bushy black beard and sunglasses, which his face almost entirely. He didn't talk much either, but nevertheless seemed to pilot the plane well.

Prior to the plane taking off, Professor Elm and Blaine had dragged a gigantic glass tank into the plane, and placed it into a corner. A white blanket covered the tank, and Blaine sat next to it and looked threatening, effectively preventing anyone from taking a peek. Nevertheless, the others were curious. Kris was certain that she had heard splashing coming from inside the tank, but Elm started talking loudly soon afterwards.

As Professor Elm and Blaine stood next the tank and whispered something with each other, the Operatives sat uncomfortably on one bench, barely talking to each other. They were all in their civilian clothes now, and Kris was particularly interested in seeing Lyra's and Silver's. Lyra, who was biting her nails and fumbling with her Poké Ball, was wearing a red shirt underneath blue overalls that somehow managed to end way above the knee, showing more leg than necessary. The most bizarre of her clothes was the big marshmallow hat that even had a red bowtie on it. Everyone was too nervous to comment her on her choice of clothes, however, and for what it's worth, her shoes seemed solid and perfectly built for climbing. Also noticeably, she still had that orange, bulletproof vest on, despite it being harmful to mobility. Though she was sitting next to Silver, she constantly kept herself at arm's length.

Silver didn't want to show that he was nervous, and indeed, his face didn't show any signs of chang, except that he had clasped his hands in a way that made it look like he was praying. But that couldn't be possible, not in Silver's case. Either way, Silver was wearing a black shirt, light gray pants and black, fingerless gloves. His already long red hair had grown even longer, but he was just letting it carelessly rest on his shoulders as he was deep in his thoughts.

While Shane was paler, quieter and a _lot_ sweatier than usual, he hadn't bothered to wear anything stylish _or_ practical, which explained why he was wearing his red flannel shirt inside out. Kris herself favored her usual running shoes, blue jeans, blue denim jacket and red top, trusting that she wouldn't need anything warmer, seeing as the area around Stark Mountain was most likely pretty warm by now. Kris kept constantly looking out of the window, noticing that after a few hours of horrible silence, they were approaching Sinnoh airspace.

"Should be only a few minutes now," Kris said. "You guys ready for this?"

"What a question!" Lyra snarled. "This is what I have been preparing for throughout this entire training! I wasn't the one sitting in my room making illegal phone calls!"

Kris wanted to shoot a response right back, but decided against it. She still remembered what professor Elm had said earlier.

"Guys, in case they have to bring us back in little boxes, I have a few questions to ask," Kris started. "Lyra, I'm curious, and please, let's try to avoid fighting… why did you join?"

Lyra seemed to contemplate on whether or not to shoot back a mean remark, and scowled at Kris at first. But after assessing Kris' words and realizing that she was being genuine, she lightened up a bit.

"What's this all of the sudden?" she asked with a normal, non-prissy voice. "Why do you care?"

Kris shrugged.

"Just passing the time, I guess…"

"Exactly!" Lyra said. "I was supposed to become a Pokémon Trainer, just like with everyone else. I had a Pokémon, I had the training, I had the knowhow… and then Gold got himself killed at the Radio Tower, and it made me think."

"He shall be missed by mysteriously impregnated teenagers everywhere," Kris remarked. "Amen."

Lyra frowned, but went past this comment.

"After that and the return of Team Rocket, I don't know… being a trainer just didn't seem as cool anymore. But unlike many others I knew, I wasn't going to just mope about it. I wanted to make a difference, and when Elm contacted me, you know I was first in line!"

"I'd like to hear about all the things you did after trainer school, Lyra," Kris said. "I think I know too much about the things you did _while _there."

"Hey, you already asked one question!" Lyra said and quickly reverted to her old self again. "That's none of your business anymore!"

Kris let out an exasperated sigh. A good start, she supposed.

"Yo! Mr. Frown!" Kris said to Silver, waking him from his thoughts. "Why did you join this group?"

"Why wouldn't I join?" Silver asked back.

"Hmm, let me see…" Kris said and started to ponder sarcastically while rubbing her chin. "In order to become an agent, you had to suffer months of horrible training, undergo a dangerous surgery without consent, throw away your privacy…"

Silver unclasped his hands and looked at Kris directly into eyes while composing an answer.

"I believed that the things I would do were worth it," he said blankly. "So far, I'm honestly not too sure if I made the right solution."

"I haven't seen you around too much," Lyra said to Silver. "Weren't you born in Cherrygrove? Why weren't you in the same school as me and Kris?"

Silver started recollecting:

"Well, back when I was a kid, just a ten-year old little red-haired runt scuttling from store to store, breaking in and stealing whatever I could find…"

"What did your mom say about that?" Shane asked.

Kris and Lyra both did a simultaneous facepalm.

"Hm," Silver said and smiled oddly. "Well, let's see… I probably could barely speak coherent sentences when my dear father walked out of our home. He never came back, and I never got to know him. When my mom just suddenly found a note from him one morning, let's just say that she did not take it well. If there was some sort of scale what insanity could measured with, let's just say that it didn't take long from her to go from 'loopy' to 'Zubatshit insane'."

Shane looked away from Silver and seemed to be embarrassed that he even asked. Kris and Lyra stared at Silver as he calmly told his story.

"The best part was when I was about five, though," Silver said and still kept smiling, though the tone of his voice was far from happy. "I was out that day, can't remember what I was doing, but I will never forget what I saw when I came home… my mom face down in the bathtub, her wrists sliced open, blood everywhere. I think I sat home about four days before someone finally caught the smell. Funny, though," he added sarcastically and wasn't smiling anymore, "now when I think about it, it didn't _seem_ like a 'domestic accident'…"

"Son of a Snubbull, man, I'm sorry," Shane muttered. "Is it too late to say 'forget I asked'?"

"Yeah," Silver said. "But it has been almost twenty years now. I have already dealt with the past. Trust me."

Silver clasped his hands again and started staring into the distance. Lyra coughed and decided to steer the conversation on to safer tracks.

"So what made _you_ join, then?" Lyra asked Kris.

"Me?" Kris said and pretended not to hear the iciness in Lyra's voice, and shrugged. "Dunno. Part of it has to do with professor Elm just dragging me into this place. And I guess I had nothing else to do. Oh, yeah, and I get dental."

Kris was aware that Lyra, Silver and Shane were staring at her and most likely wishing to get a more satisfying response, but Kris refused to give one. Just asking all those personal questions was difficult enough for her, but actually answering something back… Kris shuddered at the thought. She barely knew these people!

Everyone fell silent again. But the peaceful silence was soon broken by the scratchy voice of the pilot, who announced where they were - unnecessarily, since they could just _look out a window_!

"Currently flying over Sunyshore City," the pilot said, and Kris raised her head a little upon hearing this - hadn't she heard that voice somewhere before?

No one else seemed to notice anything, though, and Kris wasn't sure if she could connect the dots at this point.

"Excellent, excellent, we're right on schedule," Elm muttered to himself nervously while looking out of the window.

"This is how we're going to do it!" Blaine announced and cocked his ever-present shotgun, which seemed unnecessary, not to mention unwise in such cramped quarters. "You four," he pointed at the agents, "will skydive exactly ten seconds before we reach the destination. The destination," Blaine tapped a map taped on the plane's wall, "is Stark Mountain's crater!"

"So we jump in and have ourselves a little barbeque, with us as the main course, got it," Silver deadpanned.

"You better watch your tone-"

Elm interrupted Blaine before he got dangerous. Instead, he offered his own half-assed reassurance:

"I know all the ashes and lava coming out from the crater at the moment are a _bit_ unsettling," he said while nervously rubbing his hands together, "but do not worry, should there be an eruption, it's not like you will last long, and… oh, dear, I probably should have changed the phrasing…"

"I thought Stark Mountain was supposed to be dormant?" Lyra said and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes, um, I guess, technically," Elm flustered and pulled up his glasses, "but the presence of Heatran has always been a hotly debated subject. There have been no signs of Stark erupting in the past, but… I'm afraid that we have upgraded Stark's classification from 'dormant' to 'likely to erupt'."

"'Likely', huh?" Kris said. "That sounds promising…"

"Stop whining!" Blaine shouted, causing the agents to flinch and retreat from him. "You signed a contract when you joined, and besides, you're not going to die! It's a simple operation: we're just going down to kick Heatran's ass, wherever that is, before anything happens! Got it?"

"Skydive, find Heatran, kick its ass, get the hell out," Silver said while counting with his fingers, yet again with venomous sarcasm ."I think I got it. Gee, this sounds almost _too_ easy..."

"I would love to talk about this some more, but we're only thirty seconds away from the destination," Blaine said as he checked his Pokétch. "Aw, crap, I forgot… did any of you sign your wills before leaving?"

"What?" Shane squeaked, his voice shaken and high-pitched. "Buh-but…"

"He's just kidding, really," Elm said and glared at Blaine briefly, "everybody, grab parachutes and get ready!"

Seconds later, Kris, Lyra, Shane and Silver were equipped with parachutes while holding onto whatever they could as Blaine stared at his Pokétch and rushed them and Professor Elm opened the plane's hatch. The agents were almost swept on their feet by the blowing wind, and gulped as they looked down. Expecting to see some scenery, they only saw a thick cloud of volcanic ash. Fortunately, all four of them had protective eyewear and respirators, necessary to make the jump through the ash.

"Pilot, what's our altitude?" Blaine yelled at the pilot over the plane's noise.

"Twelve thousand feet, and this is as high as I can get!" the pilot shouted. "If you wanna go, do it now!"

"JUMP!" Elm screamed at the agents, fearing that they didn't hear.

Though they could barely stand upright, let alone hear anything due to their terror, they eventually got themselves together after a few seconds of shaking. Wanting to show that she was capable, Lyra jumped first. Kris refused to be left in Lyra's shadow, so the second Elm signaled her to jump, Kris followed. It was Shane's turn next, but he could barely look down.

"Oh, man," he moaned. "Here's an idea! What if I stay here in the plane to help you guys out, while-"

Shane was silenced when Silver pushed him out of the plane. For a moment, Elm and Silver heard Shane screaming, until he was out of reach. Elm glared at Silver.

"You could have given him a heart attack!" Elm yelled.

Silver shrugged, and while smiling smugly and unapologetically, Silver jumped as well. Elm looked down, but everyone had already disappeared into the thick cloud. He and Blaine struggled and closed the hatch, drowning out all the excess noise from the plane.

"Pilot!" Blaine shouted into the cockpit. "How much fuel do we have left?"

"If your people are fast, we shouldn't have to refuel," the pilot replied. "_If_ they get out…"

"Don't you worry about that," Blaine said. "Also, put some ear protection on whenever we talk about important things. Because uh… we tend to speak loudly. Got it?"

"Sure."

"Just keep circling around Stark Mountain," Elm advised.

"Roger that!"

Elm closed the cockpit door, giving the pilot some privacy. The moment he confirmed that neither Elm nor Blaine could see him, the pilot removed his sunglasses and his obviously fake beard, revealing an all-too-familiar moustache underneath.

Though Fernando was searched before he took the job as a pilot, he had prepared. Obviously he couldn't have brought anything suspicious to the plane - radios, Poké Balls, weaponry, grenades or other things he normally kept in his pockets. But it would have been foolish to think that Fernando hadn't prepared for this. He had memorized Giovanni's frequency, and wit the plane, he had a fully-functional radio in his hands.

Fernando looked behind him, wondering just how the soundproof the door was. He grabbed the microphone and headphones, putting the latter on his head and preparing to contact his master.

"Check, check, master Giovanni, do you read me?" Fernando said as quietly as he could. "This is Fernando, over!"

For a moment, Fernando could only hear static, but eventually heard the familiar, low, silky, manly voice of his master.

"_This is Giovanni, and I'm assuming we're not going to bother with keeping secrets._ _So you found a secure way of contacting me_?"

"Secure?" Fernando laughed. "Hardly! This is Blaine we're talking about here. It's not enough that he had the cockpit bugged before I even took off, my guess is that he's listening at this very moment. But who cares, 'cuz I've got the plane, and they won't do a thing about it… yet."

"_So what have you learned_?"

"Whoever funded this project must have had their glasses hidden that very day. I'm telling you, these guys are barely a threat. I was perplexed by one of them, though… this surly, red-haired guy reminds me of someone… someone who is also called 'Sakaki'…"

Fernando couldn't hear anything but Giovanni's breathing coming from the other end. Giovanni was taken aback by Fernando's knowledge, obviously. But he couldn't just go and show it.

"_Keep an eye on him_," Giovanni said simply. "_Now_," he continued, unperturbed, "_what else have you found out_?"

"You'd be surprised how easily I got the info. When I got on the trail, all I needed to do was take this engineer guy for a drink, and _voila_! Now I could wallpaper my house with all these files! Rest assured, only thing the engineer remembers is waking up the next morning… it's amazing what Sleep Powder can do! Anyway, the Committee has poured a lot of money into this project, sure. But their biggest singular investment was six _billion_ poké-dollars on neural implants which cost about a million each. It looks like all these 'operatives' have little chips in their brain which do… something. Hell if I know. But it's expensive, and thus is has to be good!"

"_Interesting, but I cannot see how I could reap the benefits_."

"Just think of what _you_ could do with these implants, boss," Fernando said alluringly. "_Or_… with someone _with_ those implants. From what I can tell, they allow people to use powers beyond their imaginings… I don't know how they actually work… yet. I also obtained some interesting files from Professor Elm's laptop, which wasn't so hard to get to."

"_Yes_?"

"Design documents for some kind of genetically enhanced super-Pokémon," Fernando whispered. "Now, let's see… a powerful, genetically engineered Pokémon designed by Blaine… a familiar scenario to you, isn't it, boss?"

"_I have little use for the design documents_," Giovanni said, and Fernando could hear the excitement in his voice, despite Giovanni's attempts to keep himself calm, "_but I think I might find a buyer for them. Fernando! Find everything you can about this Pokémon, but stay on your toes. It seems like they'll be on to you at any moment. What are they doing at Stark Mountain_?"

"It has something to do with Heatran, obviously, but I will find out more when they get back… if they get back. Oh, before I forget… over!"

"_Over and out_."

* * *

_**Stark Mountain**_

After several minutes of fumbling in the dark, Kris finally found her way out from under the parachute that had collapsed on her after landing. Kris took a look around the rugged landscape around her. Everything was covered in volcanic ash, which was still raining down like snow. And it was warm. Kris took off her jacket, though it didn't do much good as sweat was still dripping down her arms, while sweat from her head was making its way on her protective goggles, blurring her view.

"Hello!" Kris called. "Is there anybody out there? Just nod if you can hear me!"

"I'm here, Zimmerman, stop that stupid shouting!"

Lyra emerged from behind a large rock, accompanied by her Cyndaquil. Kris wanted to believe that Lyra had been cowering behind the rock previously.

"You haven't taken your Totodile out from it's ball yet?" Lyra said in annoying, shrill voice. "Did you forget our orders _already_?"

"I don't think they heard you in Twinleaf Town yet," Kris said and rubbed her ears, "and I was just about to. Oh, and just BTW, it's called 'Croc'. 'Waylon' was also good, though I think 'Croc' is more hard-hitting…"

Kris opened her Poké Ball, and Croc materialized in front of her, jumping in joy and ready to bite anything on it's path. Still, they were up against a _legendary_, and Kris had only a semi-obedient Totodile with cavities. Did Kaminko really expect them to survive?

Silver and his Sneasel soon arrived to Kris and Lyra, and acknowledged their presence simply with a curt nod. Sneasel kept jumping around, swinging its sharp and long claws around, scaring Lyra's timid Cyndaquil.

"Come on, Scorch!" Lyra yelled at the Cyndaquil. "Be a man!"

"Scorch?" Kris asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Hey, it's better than 'Croc'!" Lyra argued.

"How so?"

"It just is."

"Say, where's Shawn?" Silver asked to break this argument. "I don't think we'll be needing him much, but it would still be good to have the whole group together…"

"_The name is Shane_!"

Kris, Lyra and Silver looked up, and saw Shane hanging a few feet above them, his parachute entangled to a jagged rock.

"A little help here?" he whined.

"Sure thing," Lyra said. "Scorch! Swift!"

Lyra's Cyndaquil spat a sharp, glowing star towards the parachute's strings, cutting them instantly and dropping Shane on the rocky ground below.

"Ouch!"

Lyra just laughed cruelly, when Shane rubbed his back, got up from the ground and opened a Poké Ball. Shrew popped from the ball and blinked its eyes, finding that it was difficult to see amidst all the volcanic ashes. Kris didn't pay any attention to Shane's predicament.

"Stop fooling around, Shane," she said. "How do we get into the cave? Lyra, illuminate the area!"

"Who put you in charge?" Lyra asked.

"I did," Kris stated. "And perhaps you should seek the guidebook for reference…"

Lyra anxiously took the Sledge Hammer guidebook from her pocket and started going through it, until eventually letting out a pained groan when she found the right page.

"Huh… I guess you're right," she said. "Your Pokémon is the most likely to inflict damage on the target…"

Lyra was having an internal conflict, finding her principles challenged - she wanted to follow the rules, but she most certainly didn't want to act under Kris' command. Eventually, she bit her lip and sighed.

"Okay, fine," she muttered. "Be the leader if you want it so damn badly."

"I do want it," Kris said and smiled obnoxiously. "Now illuminate the area, and don't make me repeat myself again!"

"Scorch, Flash!"

The flames at the rear end of Lyra's Cyndaquil grew larger, shedding some light into the darkness of Stark Mountain. The entrance to the cave was just next to them, but to get to Heatran's chamber, the group would have to navigate through a complex network of tunnels. None of the operatives were too happy about this. Silver simply frowned like he always did and paid no attention to the arguing of the others, until he noticed something.

"Wait!" he shouted before Kris, Lyra and Shane could enter the cave. "Guys, look! Up there!"

Everyone looked up, squinting to see through the layer of smoke and ashes around them. Something the size of a truck was standing on four legs on the edge of Stark Mountain's crater. Using the PokéDex integrated into his Pokétch, Shane instantly scanned the creature, his eyes widening at the prospect of seeing the famous legendary.

"_Heatran, the Lava Dome Pokémon. Boiling magma circulates through its body, that is made entirely of rugged steel. It dwells on volcanic caves, using its cross-shaped feet to crawl on ceilings and walls_."

"There's our target!" Kris announced.

Heatran opened its mouth and roared at the agents, flames and smoke pouring from its huge mouth. Then it crawled back into the crater, but it wasn't alone. Dozens of Weezing started to erupt from the crater, and they began to float towards the agents. Similarly, several Slugma and Magcargo started to crawl at them from the crater.

"Oh noez!" Shane screamed. "They're slowly coming to kill us!"

"That Heatran's gonna be one tough es oh bee to take down!" Kris thought out loud.

"Well, obviously," Silver finished the conversation as the four agents ran into the volcano.


	12. Domo Arigato

_**DOMO ARIGATO**_

The interior of Stark Mountain was as dark as it gets, though in the weak light that Scorch emitted with the flames on its rear, Kris, Lyra, Shane and Silver could see the air vibrating from all the heat. Fully realizing that they were entering the belly of the beast itself, the group advanced, though they were all almost petrified from fear. Kris, though feeling the sweat gluing her clothes to her skin, decided to act tough and make sure her leadership wouldn't be questioned.

"Just march forward," she said brazenly, though her voice had gotten squeaky. "There's nothing to, um… be afraid about."

"I'm not afraid," Lyra lied.

"I am!" Shane admitted. "Can I be excused from this mission?"

Croc, Scorch, Shrew and Silver's unnamed Sneasel walked quietly next to their trainers. None of them communicated with each other or even seemed to acknowledge each other's presence.

After walking for a while, the agents started to feel relief - no wild Pokémon had attacked them yet. Eventually, they came across a fork in the path. And this time, literally: the path divided into four sub-paths, all most likely dangerous, long, dark and foul-smelling. And, coincidentally enough, there were four agents.

"Well, gang, let's split up," Kris suggested. "One of these paths has to lead to Heatran."

"Unless there's a pool of molten lava at the end of every one," Silver said quietly, "but then again, those aren't mutually exclusive…"

"Just for that, I'm putting you on the one on the far right," Kris said, "Lyra will take the one next to that, I'll take the one next to that and Shane will take the one on the far left. Got it?"

The operatives mumbled something and walked into their respective tunnels. Shane took the one on the far left, and the moment it hit him that he was alone with Sandshrew, he grabbed a flashlight and lit it. Though the beam of light was narrow and his batteries were soon dead, Shane was happy that at least he saw ahead of himself. In the intense heat, Shane felt like he was bathing in sweat as he slowly walked in the tunnel, constantly looking around him and expecting to be jumped at. The heat mixed with his fear gave him a splitting headache, and he found it hard to concentrate. Eventually, Shane heard a loud '_thud_' behind him.

"WHO'S THERE?"

Shane turned around in panic and frantically waved his flashlight around, but couldn't see a thing. Finally, he realized to look down. Shrew had collapsed on the ground and its tongue was hanging out. It was breathing heavily, and it was shivering all over.

"You mean you really can't take another step?" Shane asked the Pokémon, fully knowing that it couldn't reply. "Come on, Shrew, I know places like these really aren't your thing, but… Shrew? Oh, _crap_…"

Shane picked up the shivering Pokémon and had to carry it in his armpit. Of course, this was even more unpleasant for Shrew, as Shane's sweat was constantly dripping on its eye.

"_Shreeeeeew_!"

Shane ignored the squeaks of this Pokémon as he looked around him. If Shrew wasn't fit to fight, his Pokémon Powers were the only thing he had left.

"I'm screwed," Shane muttered to himself, then turned to his Pokémon. "You really picked the perfect time to almost pass out, Shrew!" Shane hissed. "Why did I have to get such a coward? You're probably just faking it, aren't you? If only I could-"

Shane soon fell silent. The tunnel started to grow wider, and at the same time, it was also brighter than before. Shane turned off his flashlight. It was still intensely bright, as if there was a source of light right behind the corner.

"Ohmygod," Shane muttered and froze completely. He started shivering wildly and could barely hold Shrew in his sweaty hands. "What was that? Oh no, _oh no no no no no…_please… I never meant to… oh no…"

Shane quickly grabbed Shrew and started shaking the Pokémon. Its eyes popped open, and Shane held the surprised-looking Pokémon against his face.

"Please, Shrew," he whispered.

Shane's pleading was pathetic, and there were tears amidst the sweat on his face. He was breathing so heavily that Shrew could just barely understand what Shane was babbling:

"Please, Shrew, I didn't mean what I said. You have to help me. Help me… please… pleasepleaseplease…"

But Shane dropped Shrew on the ground and let out a terrified scream. When the source of light slowly crawled towards him. It was… a two-feet tall, slug-like Pokémon made entirely of magma.

"A Slugma?" Shane said and felt immense relief. "Of course… I knew that… I was just… well, there's no one here I would have to justify my pathetic behavior to, so it's all good… you, Slugma, shoo!"

And, remorselessly, Shane kicked the Slugma away from him, while even laughing at the poor Pokémon:

"That'll teach you to scare me! Hah! You're just a pitiful, insignificant, little… what is it, Shrew?"

Shrew had partially recovered after Shane had dropped it, and it was now tugging Shane's leg and pointing at something behind them. Shane reluctantly turned around, only to witness a Pokémon glaring at him only a few feet away. It was Magcargo - it was like Slugma, only much bigger, and had a shell made of hardened magma on its back. Magcargo spit some fire from its mouth as it started to slowly make its way towards Shane.

"Oh, man, it brought its momma!" Shane wailed. "Shrew, if you can't fight, we better try and just get the hell out. Wait, hold on!"

Shane bent his wrist and decided to try and use his Pokémon Powers.

"Swift!"

Shane launched a rapid-moving, sharp star from his wrist, but while it was properly effective now, the star merely bounced off Magcargo's rock-hard shell.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Shane thought. "Come on, run!"

Magcargo responded to Shane's attack by thumping the ground, causing shockwaves all over the cave. The tunnel started crumbling as bits and pieces of the ceiling started dropping. But Shrew spread its arms in effort to protect its trainer, and refused to move.

Shane, who was still running away, took a few seconds to notice that Shrew had stayed behind. He quickly turned tail and started running back towards Shrew, just as Magcargo thumped on the ground again. This Earthquake caused the ground beneath Shrew to crack, and Shrew didn't react fast enough, but started falling into the chasm below.

Just before his Pokémon dropped, Shane grabbed Shrew's tail with his left hand, but slipped into the chasm himself. Just before falling down into the infinite depths of Stark Mountain, he grabbed the edge of chasm with his right hand, hopelessly hanging on the edge. The weight of Shrew was pulling him down, and he couldn't hold his grip much longer. The Magcargo and the Slugma Shane had kicked before turned around and started to crawl away, having had their revenge.

"HEEEEELP!" Shane shouted. "Somebody! Help! SOMEBODY! Oh, wait…"

Shane suddenly remembered the radio integrated into his Pokétch, and tapped it with his nose. Just by pressing a single button, he could open the emergency channel and immediately start yelling:

"_Help! Help! Mayday! It's Shane, come and help me! I can't hold on much longer!_"

* * *

Lyra and her Cyndaquil walked in the other tunnel, and had not encountered any hostile Pokémon in several minutes. Nevertheless, Lyra kept constantly looking over her shoulders, while eyeing the tunnel back and forth. Even a Zubat in the ceiling could scare the living crap out of her at the moment. She raised her head and tried to adjust her marshmallow hat - only to find out that the humid air and the heat had caused it to go all floppy, and the moment Lyra touched it, the hat collapsed on her face.

"Stupid second-hand clothes…" Lyra muttered. "Last time I let my mother decide my clothes for me…"

Lyra put the hat in her pocket. The heat was not doing good for her. Her hair was constantly hanging on her face, and as she touched her face, she realized that wearing makeup wasn't probably the best idea to do in a volcano. Granted, she had just wanted to look good in the debrief and forgot to wash it away, and as it was now melting on her face, Lyra was sure that she looked like the Wicked With of the West.

"This is it, Scorch," Lyra whispered to her quiet Pokémon. "We need to find Heatran before the others! I'm _not_ letting that wannabe hero _Kris_ hog all the credit. I just wish they would have given us at least some guns… I feel so unprotected…"

The Cyndaquil turned its head in Lyra's direction, and though its eyes were permanently closed, Lyra felt like it was glaring.

"No offense, of course," Lyra corrected herself.

As she and her Pokémon walked forward in the utter silence, Lyra started thinking. Professor Elm had encouraged the agents to keep their Pokémon out of their balls and to 'synchronize' with them. But so far, though Lyra had obeyed the order and had mostly kept Scorch out of its ball - but that's about as far Lyra had connected with her Pokémon. _Maybe my Pokémon Powers would work better if I knew it better_, she thought, _then I could finally show Kris, and that arrogant Silver._

"Hey," Lyra said to start a conversation, "Scorch…"

But then Lyra was interrupted by the scratching, distorted yelling coming from her Pokétch's radio:

"_Help! Help! Mayday! It's Shane, come and help me! I can't hold on much longer!_"

Lyra quickly opened her Pokétch's map to check Shane's location. She tried zooming closer and father, tried to desperately make sense of Stark Mountain's insanely complex tunnel network. Finally, she found Shane, indicated by a blinking, yellow number '9'. Lyra herself was basically on the other side of the map, a red number '6' showing her location. And in the adjacent tunnel, almost right next to Shane, was Kris, a blinking, blue number '5'.

"_Please! Help me! HELP ME!_" Shane shouted desperately.

"Good God, Zimmerman, help the guy!" Lyra yelled. "You're the closest to him! Me and Sakaki will keep on going!"

There was no response from Kris. Was her Pokétch broken? No, then Lyra wouldn't be able to see her location… but Kris just kept on running towards Heatran, ignoring Shane's distress and Lyra's calls completely.

"Kris!" Lyra yelled. "Did you hear me? Shane is in trouble!"

Still no response from Kris.

"Damn it! Silver! Do you read me?"

"_…I…tran…zzzzt…psht…going to…rly…it!_"

Lyra could not make any sense of Silver's transmission, and as she looked at the map, she didn't find Silver anywhere. Had he already reached Heatran's chamber? If so, there was no turning back for him…

"Fine! I'll help him!" Lyra shouted impatiently. "Shane, hold on!"

"_Thanks, Lyra! But please! Hurry!_"

"Yeah, yeah…."

Lyra pointed at the wall next to her.

"Scorch, can you take that down?"

The Cyndaquil rolled up into a ball, and started rolling towards the wall, the flames around it spinning rapidly. The ball of blaze did some damage against the wall, tearing open a small indent. But the moment Scorch stopped spinning, it became dizzy.

"That's okay, I'll do the rest," Lyra said and attempted to pick up her Pokémon.

But the moment Lyra touched Scorch, she felt her hands burning, and forced was to drop the Pokémon. She looked at her hands - they were red, and white blisters soon appeared on her skin. She then looked at Scorch in confusion, but the Cyndaquil just turned its back on her.

"Scorch, what is it?" Lyra yelled. "Come on, we need to hurry! Aw, fine…"

Lyra recalled Scorch and quickly climbed through the small indent in the wall, find herself in another tunnel. All the while watching her Pokétch, she ran past the complex network of tunnels, constantly making turns. Left, right, right, right, left, right… she decided not to think too much and simply went with the flow, trying to find the shortest route to the blinking number that was Shane.

Finally, she reached him. She offered her hand at Shane, but he urged her to grab the Sandshrew first. After Shrew was safe, Lyra pulled Shane up with all her might. It didn't take much struggling to get the puny Shane quickly back on the surface.

"Thank you!" Shane exclaimed and threw himself at Lyra, hugging her. "I thought I was a gonner for sure… I thought that I would have dropped Shrew any moment now… thank you so much, thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

"Yes, that's quite enough!" Lyra snapped and pushed Shane away from her.

Shane recoiled when he saw Lyra's face, shining with sweat and looking like someone had slapped a blob of beige-colored ice cream on her. Not only that, but her expression was furious as her eyes were bulging and she was grinding her teeth together.

"How the hell did you manage to drop there? Do you have any idea what we're even doing here? Oh, of course not, who cares what anyone _else_ wants, as long as you get to have your way! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU IN THAT PIT, YOU-"

Lyra fell silent when she realized that Shrew had stepped in front of Shane and was now hissing at her. She was about to say something to Shane about him not being able to keep his Pokémon in check, but was interrupted again. Another shockwave ran through the tunnel, shaking the ground around them. Then, horrible, high-pitched, ear-shattering screeching and the horrifying noise of hundreds of wings flapping.

Lyra, Shane and Shrew started to run away from the swarm of Golbat chasing them, eventually reaching another fork in the tunnel. Without even realizing to check her map as she ran, Lyra ran left, and Shane and Shrew followed.

But they had reached the tunnel's end, and resurfaced in an enormous cavern, surrounded by a flowing lava stream. As the trail ended, Lyra, Shane and Shrew tripped and fell several feet directly on jagged rocks. Shane heard a sickening snap as he landed directly on one foot, which gave in under him. Lyra fell straight on her shoulders, feeling a horrible crunching sound as she dislocated the shoulder in her right arm.

Both Lyra and Kris lay helpless on the ground, watching as the swarm of Golbat flew over them. Lyra, grimacing and holding on to her shoulder, ignored Shane's cries of anguish as she looked around. Heatran was climbing on the wall on the other side of the humongous cavern, and dozens of Slugma, Magcargo, Koffing and Weezing surrounded it. There were entrances to other tunnels all around the cavern, and Lyra begged for someone to come… they had to come… Kris was right nearby…

Lyra tried to bend her arm enough to use her Pokétch, but the sharp, splitting pain in her shoulder made her soon abandon that idea.

"AAAHH!" Shane shouted as he held his leg, which was pointing to a rather odd direction. "MY LEG! Fffffff…"

But Shane didn't have energy left to curse and shout, he just cradled his broken leg and tried to search for Shrew. The little Sandshrew had fallen on its head, and Shane could see it laying on the ground, unconscious. Its other eye was halfway open, but it didn't seem to register any noises.

"SHREW!" Shane screamed. "Shrew

"_SHUT UP, SHANE_!" Lyra screamed and bit her lip again as the pain in her shoulder started to feel nauseating. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't gotten yourself almost killed, we wouldn't be here! Use your damn Pokétch!"

"Right, right…"

For some reason, Lyra's furious screaming made Shane calm down a bit - at least he was given instructions. But then Shane's face faulted as he realized that his Pokétch wasn't responding. He tried shaking his wrist and tapping all the buttons - but nothing. The touch screen was heavily damaged.

"Gimme a break," Shane moaned. "HEEEEEEELP!"

"_Shut up for God's sake_!" Lyra snarled at Shane and looked at Heatran.

The legendary Pokémon paid no attention to Kris and Lyra at the moment, but Lyra realized the situation. They were helpless - Lyra's Cyndaquil was too dizzy too anything and Shane's Sandshrew was unconscious. Basically, all Lyra could hope for was using her Pokémon Powers against Heatran, should it attack, but that basically just seemed like suicide.

"What do we do?"

* * *

Kris was trying to calm down her hyperactive Totodile, which kept bouncing around and sniffing everything on its way. Just when Kris was about to catch Croc, she heard Shane's screaming from her radio:

"_Help! Help! Mayday! It's Shane, come and help me! I can't hold on much longer!_"

Kris looked around the corner - she was about to reach the end of the tunnel. She started to nervously bite her nails and going over her possibilities. Shane was in trouble, sure, but that happened everyday. She couldn't just rush to his help now - she would lose the opportunity to find Heatran. She checked the map in her Pokétch. Shane was in the next tunnel, and basically all Kris needed to do was to run backwards a little to get to Shane's tunnel.

But Lyra was about as close to Heatran's chamber as she was. She was feeling even more nervous, and she felt the pain of guilt in her gut. It was her idea that the crew should split up, and in retrospect, it was a stupid idea. Just about all of the four tunnels would lead into Heatran's chamber anyway, so why couldn't have they checked the Pokétch maps immediately? Suddenly, she heard Lyra's voice from her radio:

"_Good God, Zimmerman, help the guy! You're the closest to him! Me and Sakaki will keep on going!_"

That was it. There was no way Kris would let that bitch and that asshole get to Heatran first. It was now or never. Kris abandoned the idea of helping Shane and started running in the tunnel, grabbing Croc with her. She started running towards Heatran's chamber, knowing that Lyra would have to help out Shane, and would therefore miss her chance of getting to Heatran. She smiled at the thought of seeing Lyra's expression after all this…

Finally, Kris reached the end of the tunnel. She was in Heatran's chamber, and witnessed the beauty of the rampaging lava currents and the hundreds of Pokémon swarming around the legendary Pokémon, which was climbing on the wall. The way Heatran was able to stick to a vertical impressed even Kris. Kris dropped Croc and prepared to fight. Just then, a Camerupt rose from a pool of lava nearby and started to run towards Kris.

"Croc, Hydro Cannon, now!" Kris screamed at her Totodile.

Hearing the name of the move, Croc stopped jumping around and gave Kris a confused look.

"Wait, you don't know that move?" Kris asked. "Oh, man… uh… Hydro Pump?"

Totodile was just confused as Camerupt kept on running towards Kris like a rampaging rhino. Steam erupted from the tiny volcanoes on the Camerupt's back as it ran furiously towards Kris, getting closer and closer.

"NO!" Kris screamed and started retreating. "Surf! Umm… Water Spout! Damn it! Water Pulse! No? Bubblebeam!"

The Camerupt was just a few yards away… Kris could hear its deep breathing…

"WATER GUN! NOW!"

Finally realizing that it was all that her Totodile could do anyway, Kris found the right attack, and Croc spat water from its mouth with amazing pressure - like from a hose. But surprisingly, the moment the Camerupt got a stream of cold water splashed on its face, it stopped on its tracks and fainted.

"Huh," Kris said. "That was easy enough… come on, Croc, let's go! You blast anything that tries to get near us!"

Kris and Croc started running towards Heatran, and as Kris had predicted, various Slugma and Magcargo started spewing magma towards the duo. Croc spat water on every single one it saw, immobilizing them all instantly. Kris felt her shoes melting in the intense heat, and felt the burns as hot lava splattered all around her. But she nevertheless kept running, Croc following closely behind. She could now stare directly into Heatran's eyes - its emotionless, lidless orange eyes which stared at Kris intently. Heatran opened its mouth, exposing a row of fist-sized, steel teeth.

But then Kris bumped into a large purple ball and recoiled, falling on her back and directly on Croc. A Weezing had stopped her on her tracks, and all of its three heads were staring at Kris, refusing to let her pass.

"Croc, fight!" Kris commanded her Totodile as she got up.

But the already exhausted Croc was gasping for air on the ground, refusing to move an inch.

"Fine, time to put these Pokémon Powers to use…"

But as Kris said it, she sounded nervous, her confidence slowly going down the drain. She activated her Pokétch, bent her wrist and aimed at the Weezing.

"Yo, Weezing!" Kris shouted to taunt the Pokémon. "_Chill out_!"

But as Kris covered her eyes and pressed a button… nothing happened. No Ice Beam came out to turn Weezing into a solid block of ice, Kris just stood there, panic and fear slowly creeping up to her.

"Wait… it's not working? No…"

That's all Kris had time to say as the three heads of Weezing all opened their mouths, releasing a cloud of green gas in the air. Kris tried to hold her breath, but she wasn't prepared, and the toxic gas soon made its way into her lungs. As Kris felt a horrible, burning sensation in her throat, she started coughing as tears rushed into her eyes. Everything was beginning to get blurrier and darker… and darker…

Kris soon fell unconscious besides Croc, and the Weezing stopped spewing smoke and started to look for a next victim.

* * *

Silver, whose tunnel was the shortest and who got to Heatran first, had witnessed his comrades falling one by one. Not particularly feeling like helping them, he had planned on merely waiting for them to weaken Heatran enough for Silver to finish it off. But now, Lyra and Shane were all heavily wounded while Kris was on the other side of the cave, running towards Heatran.

"Looks like I have to finish the job, then," Silver said to his Sneasel, which lacked a nickname.

The Sneasel crossed its arms and glared at Silver. Silver merely scowled.

"Hmph," he said. "What? You expect me to say '_we_ have to finish the job'? Get real!"

Sneasel hung its head, but Silver wasn't finished with it.

"I can't return you anymore," he said to his Pokémon, "as your owner would probably want to have a word with me… but now that I have Chikorita, which will soon evolve, I may not have a use for you. I'm an Operative now, and we need to focus on Pokémon individually to draw out their strength and stuff. Do you even evolve from that? No, you don't! You'll stay in that form, while my Chikorita grow. But for now, let's just concentrate on kicking Heatran's ass. We can deal with this later!"

Sneasel nodded slowly, but it didn't look Silver in the eyes. Silver paid no attention, though, as he readied his Pokétch. He watched as the Weezing used Smog to knock Kris out, then sighed.

"Yup, they really should have made me lead this operation," he said arrogantly. "Let's go!"

Swarms of Pokémon were now making their way toward Silver, somehow protecting Heatran, but Silver and his Sneasel walked calmly ahead. As the Weezing that poisoned Kris approached Silver, his Sneasel instantly lunged at the Weezing, tearing it three new holes as Sneasel slashed with its claws. Meanwhile, Silver, who had mastered his Pokémon Power technique, kept firing Ice Shards at every Golbat that was attempting to land on his head and suck out his blood. One by one, the Ice Shards knocked the Golbat out, leaving a trail of unconscious Pokémon behind Silver.

Deciding to bring out the big guns, Heatran sent a swarm of Slugma and Magcargo towards Silver next. They rose from the pools and rivers of lava that flowed in the cave, spitting fire towards Silver. He attempted to fire an Ice Shard at them, but as the shards were inches away from the closest Magcargo, they melted.

"Damn," Silver muttered, "though that was only logical… okay, Sneasel, Faint Attack!"

Obediently, Sneasel charged at the closest Magcargo so fast that it seemed to have disappeared into thin air. The Magcargo looked around in confusion, but then Sneasel reappeared and sunk its claws into Magcargo's boiling hot flesh. Sneasel didn't mind, as once it was finished with one Magcargo, it instantly moved on to slash the next one. Silver left Sneasel to deal with the Magcargo as he looked at the humongous Heatran that was still stationed on the wall, and kept staring at Silver.

"How the hell do I deal with that guy…" Silver mumbled to himself. "Damn Kris! Why did she have to get herself knocked out. I only have Sneasel and Chikorita, and they don't stand a chance against this thing… what was White thinking when she coordinated this mission…"

On the background, Silver heard a wailing growl as Sneasel knocked out the last Magcargo. The cavern was now littered with unconscious people and Pokémon, with only Silver and his Sneasel remaining against Heatran.

But Heatran had noticed this. Before Silver had the chance to call out an attack, Heatran opened its mouth and let out another, thunderous roar. The roar echoed all over the humongous cavern, rattling the stalagmites in the ceiling. Though Silver covered his ears and closed his eyes, he was sure that the roar would turn his brains into mush, the way it seemed to shatter his ears.

Then, a large explosion was heard. Silver opened his eyes and saw as Heatran conjured an enormous wave of lava, which was rushing towards him. Silver ignored his Sneasel and started running away. Sneasel followed, but Silver didn't look behind him as he ran faster than he had ever ran before. The lava stream followed him, and Silver was eventually no match, as he found himself standing in a lava-filled puddle, his shoes slowly melting away. The molten mass whipped his legs and burned off parts of his clothing, forcing Silver to climb onto higher ground. Sneasel pulled him up on a ledge, and Silver attempted to stand. His feet, now covered in burns and blisters, couldn't withstand his weight, however, and Silver fell down.

Taking turns in panting and growling in pain, Silver allowed himself to look horrified as Heatran started to slowly crawl out from the wall, as it to maximize the fear it caused in him.

"That's it…"

Fed up with the whole operation, Silver, hoping that he could get the message through, opened the radio on his Pokétch.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Sledge Hammer's HQ in Johto, two technicians were sitting in front of monitors, waiting for any signals from the agents. The other was the resident computer geek, the skinny, brown-haired, bespectacled Celio. The other technician was Ein, the staff's physician and medical technician who monitored the live functions of the Operatives through the chips they had in their brains. Ein was also thin, but taller than Celio, and wore a lab coat and shades. He had also tied his black hair on a ponytail. Though competent as a doctor, Ein was more fascinated in doing bizarre experiments with the human body than actually minding the health of the agents.

Lt. White was standing behind Ein and Celio, wearing a headset and feverishly anticipating any signs of life from the Operatives. Professor Kaminko was currently in his office, but he monitored the situation from there. Kaminko had his hands clasped and was nervously staring forward, being constantly prepared for something.

"Any signal yet?" White asked Ein.

"Oh, was that we were doing here?" Ein asked as he turned in his chair. "Sorry, I was playing Minesweeper…"

"Try to maintain at least some level of your professionalism, Ein," Celio said to his friend.

"Well, it may surprise you, Celio, but my job consists of other things than just sitting behind a computer all day," Ein shot right back.

"Flirt on your own time!" White yelled at the two. "What's their status?"

"Hold on a second, Lieutenant," Ein muttered as he typed on his keyboard. "Hmm… still no readings. They're probably too deep, I can't really tell anything until they choose to contact us."

"You sure the emergency line is still open?" White asked Celio.

"You think I'm some kind of amateur?" Celio asked and pretended to be offended. "Thou shall not smear my good name!"

White opened her mouth to respond back, but she was interrupted. Through the buzzing, static and distortion, White heard Silver's anguished voice from the radio:

"_…ayday! Help! We need help! We have a man down… and two girls, too…_"

"Silver, what's your status?" White shouted anxiously.

"_…atran got to me… burned my legs… it hurts! I can't stand! You gotta send help!_"

"Silver-" White paused and looked around her, realizing that Kaminko was constantly watching. "I mean, agent seven, can the others do anything?"

Silver paused and looked around him. He heard Shane still wailing over his broken foot, while Lyra and Kris were completely immobile. Upon closer look, Silver also saw blood pouring from Kris' mouth as she lay unconscious.

"_I don't think so_," Silver said simply and grunted in pain. "_See for… yourself…_"

Finally, Ein was able to get readings from the agents on his monitor. Next to the numbers 5, 6, 7 and 9 there was a small bar that indicated the health and status of the agents. Next to Kris, Lyra and Shane, there were the letters 'FNT', plus the letters 'PSN' next to Kris' name.

White threw herself on the monitor and glared at it in horror.

"NO!" she shrieked. "Quick, administer an antidote or something, Ein! Can't you stimulate their brains or anything to get them up?"

"Impossible from this distance!" Ein said. "Silver's our only hope now."

"_Screw you_!" they heard Silver growling on the radio. "_I'm injured, damn it! I can't even… crap… I can't even stand, let alone fight… besides, I can't take Heatran on… it's coming… send reinforcements, now! NOW!_"

"Are you crazy?" White yelled. "There's no way we can get anyone there on time!"

"_Even If I could still stand… I couldn't take on that… thing! It's hideous! Send someone, now, damnit!_"

"Agent Seven's synchronization level is dropping," Celio reported, "even if we put Sneasel and Chikorita together, they'd be squashed in a heartbeat!"

"_I'd like to_," Silver grunted, "_meet the genius who… coordinated this mission… damn…we should have… at least gotten some… guns…_"

Silver's breathing was getting increasingly heavier. On Ein's monitor, Silver's health was slowly dropping, and was the health bar had turned red. White clenched her teeth and tried to think. Why hadn't she prepared properly? Of course they couldn't take on Heatran… they hadn't even bothered to synchronize… a moment ago, White had been unnerved by Kaminko's presence, but now White would have given anything to hear Kaminko come up with a solution. She herself felt frustrated and helpless, being unable to do anything.

Finally, after several seconds consisting of White dripping sweat on the ground and Silver panting on the radio, Kaminko started speaking. His voice was heard from loudspeakers all over the base.

"_Contact Elm and Blaine_," he said calmly. "_By special order, I am ordering them to complete Project Genesect_."

"What's that?" White asked.

"_Lieutenant White, you're excused_," Kaminko said firmly. "_I'll handle this operation from here. Thank you_."

White started pumping her fists and was shaking all over. What was Kaminko not telling her? Why couldn't she finish the operation? She could think of a million things to scream at her boss, but right now, she reluctantly left the room. Meanwhile, Celio contacted Elm's and Blaine's plane.

"Professor Elm, Professor Elm, this is HQ, over," Celio said. "Assume battle position #649, finish Project Genesect. Activate agent one, referred from here on as 'agent zero'."

"_This is Elm. Understood. Activating Touya_."

"Ooh, we're going to see what's in the tank!" Ein said gleefully and clapped his hands. "I want direct video feed! I need to see my creation in the works…"

Celio pressed a button, and the giant image of Elm's and Blaine's plane was reflected on the wall. Kaminko, Celio and Ein watched as Professor Elm and Blaine tore the sheet off the glass tank they had dragged onboard. In the glass tank was a perfect reconstruction of Touya, the supposedly deceased former agent. The once attractive man with lush, brown hair and brown eyes was no pale, and his constantly open eyes were lifeless - he didn't seem to feel the need for blinking as he was submerged in the glass tank filled with strange purple liquid.

"No wonder you ordered Touko out of the room, sir," Celio muttered, taken aback by the sight of Touya in the tank. "But… how can _he_ still be alive? What _is_ that?"

"Nothing more than the future of soldiers everywhere," Ein whispered, almost crying out of joy as he saw Elm and Blaine preparing to activate Touya. "It's the ultimate fusion of man, machine and Pokémon. We took Touya's body and fortified it with pieces of Genesect, along with some cybernetic implants. Touya's brain and the original neural implants we put there when he became an Operative are still in there, beneath a skull made of steel!"

"God in heaven…" Celio whispered. "Is his consciousness still, like, in there as well?"

Ein shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he asked in return. "We have got what we wanted. Our current Operatives are just flesh, and as this exercise has demonstrated, flesh is weak. But Touya is much, _much_ more… now that we have him, no one can stand in our way. _No one_!"

"Cooky," Celio remarked.

"_Activate it_," Kaminko ordered. "_Send it directly into the crater via parachute. There should be a way to get into Heatran's chamber through there_."

* * *

Heatran had climbed out from the wall and was now approaching Silver dangerously. Every time the creature exhaled, smoke and flames burst from its mouth. The heat was becoming excruciating as Heatran kept on approaching. In fact, Silver figured that he would probably burn to death before Heatran even got the chance to touch him. Sneasel was standing bravely in front of Silver to protect its master, but the tormented Pokémon could barely stand upright, let alone fight the Heatran. Silver covered his eyes with his hands and awaited for the inevitable…

But then salvation arrived. Arriving via parachute through a crack in the ceiling, Touya crashed in. As he hovered directly above Heatran, Touya cut the strings of his parachute and landed directly on Heatran. The creature roared furiously and tried to shake Touya off, but without batting an eye, he launched an electrical attack from his wrist directly towards Heatran, paralyzing it.

Silver retreated into safety as he saw Touya battling against the Heatran with his bare hands now, attempting to wrestle the huge creature into ground. Silver quickly grabbed his radio.

"Holy motherlover…" Silver whispered. "Who, nay, _what_ is that?"

"_That is agent one_," Kaminko said to Silver over the radio. "_He has been returned to us. Your job is over, agent seven. Retreat and try to get your comrades to safety. We will take over from here_."

And Silver watched. After launching the destructive Thunder Wave from his wrist somehow, Touya launched a Hydro Pump next, drenching the immobilized Heatran with water. Heatran attempted to counter with Lava Plume, but Touya jumped off from Heatran and effortlessly dodged the burst of magma. However, when Touya landed, Silver saw a piece of Touya's skin melting.

Touya himself paid no attention, as he prepared his Pokétch for a yet another attack, this one even more destructive than the previous. But Silver was the first one to clearly see a steel bar where Touya's bone would be, and where there should be exposed flesh, there was only circuitry. Just _what_ was that? Silver didn't have much time to investigate, as somehow Touya was able to cover the exposed metal with skin again, without even having to look at his leg.

Next, Silver heard Touya's voice again. Despite his overly feminine appearance, Touya's voice was a deep, dull monotone, something that gave Silver goosebumps when he heard it:

"The target's health has dropped beneath the borderline, sir," Touya stated emotionlessly. "Should I terminate it immediately? Over."

There was a pause in the radio chatter. The barely conscious Heatran shivered, all of its four legs having failed under it. Touya simply stared at Heatran as he awaited his orders, and Silver was equally quiet, wanting to hear what Kaminko had to say.

Finally, after a long period of contemplating, Kaminko gave his answer:

"_Negative. Just make sure that the target is secure and immobilized. We have a much greater use for a legendary Pokémon if we can capture it alive. Do not use Poké Balls. We will need it in prime shape. We'll send a retrieval team to pick it up. Over and out_."

**

* * *

**

Indeed, about an hour later, the 'retrieval team' was ready. It required the strength of ten Fearow to pick the massive, near-unconscious Heatran up. Heatran had been tied with cables that would directly feed electricity into its body, keeping the legendary Pokémon secured and restrained. The sight of a horde of Fearow carrying the Heatran towards Johto across the air was indeed one to behold.

Kris, Lyra, Shane and Silver were currently in the plane with Elm and Blaine, on their way back to HQ. Each of them were entirely devastated. Lyra's shoulder and Shane's leg had been bandaged, while Kris was still unconscious and had to be kept in a medical ventilator for the time being. The poisonous gas that she had inhaled had affected her worse than was initially thought, and even though an antidote was administered immediately as she was brought back to the plane, she still needed proper medical treatment as soon as possible. According to Elm, this wasn't the first case of Weezing-caused poisoning they had seen, so they were hopeful.

Silver, who simply had accepted some ointments for his burns but nothing else, was now staring out of the window, wondering the situation he had gotten himself into. Shane, who apparently had recovered from his shock, kept bombarding him with questions.

"So you really saw it?" Shane asked from Silver again. "Touya? Kicking Heatran's ass? Oh, man, I can't believe I missed that one…"

"Mm," Silver replied without paying attention to Shane. "Maybe you should have spent less time whining about your leg, then," he mumbled.

Embarrassed, Shane turned away from Silver and focused on Lyra. Her injured arm didn't hurt so much anymore, but she still refused to talk anything. She just kept staring at the unconscious Kris, who had to be kept in life support. Why didn't _she_ bother to help Shane? Why did Kris have to charge against Heatran blindly like that?

"Um, Lyra," Shane said weakly. "Thanks for… saving me. You're all right."

Lyra looked away from Kris, preferring to stare at the floor instead. But though her hair covered most of her face, Shane could see her smiling a bit.

"Think nothing of it…" she muttered.

Elm and Blaine were sitting quietly in the cockpit. Blaine had forced the pilot to wear headphones again, and after making sure that neither him nor the operatives were listening, Blaine started whispering to Elm:

"What did I tell ya, buddy?" he said and gently punched Elm in the shoulder. "It worked, didn't it? I knew it… I just knew it… it's _alive_."

Elm had his arms crossed as he stared the Fearow convoy dragging Heatran away. Blaine seemed to notice it too.

"That Kaminko has more balls than I thought," Blaine said appreciatively. "The committee is going to give him a hard time for not killing Heatran instantly. But who cares? Do you know what happens when we get back to base?"

"Well, first of all, we probably will have to answer some panicked calls about people seeing strange things on a sky," Elm deadpanned as he glared at the strange Fearow formation.

"We'll say that it's a weather balloon," Blaine said nonchalantly. "But I was talking about Heatran! Do you realize that this is perhaps the first time _ever_ when us humans get to perform experiments on a living legendary? Think of the possibilities!"

"Thrilling," Elm muttered, "but you were right about Touya, I must admit… what's gonna happen next?"

"We continue the project, of course," Blaine said excitedly and lowered his voice a bit more. "I just hope _those_ guys don't realize what's up with the man…"

Elm looked behind him, but it looked like none of the operatives had heard a thing. He then shook his head.

"Are you sure it was wise to just leave Touya there?" he asked Blaine.

"Of course it was! We still need to work on that whole behavior thing! They might get suspicious if they spend too much time with him… it… whatever."

"So how do we '_continue the project_', huh, Blaine?"

"I've been looking into it," Blaine whispered, "and I think I managed to find the place where Red was last seen. Now, just an ordinary trainer could do a whopping amount of damage with that little 'rebuilding' we did… think if we could have the most powerful Pokémon trainer in the world in our hands… maybe we could even clone him!"

With these ominous words, silence fell over the region of Sinnoh. The Battle Zone was been saved, and no one outside Extranormal Operations would ever know what happened inside Stark Mountain. The propeller plane disappeared behind the horizon soon, but the story was far from over. Legendary Pokémon were still out there, including an especially eccentric one causing nightmares around Canalave City…

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_

Author's Notes: _Yeah, this story is finished here, BUT the second part of his five-part 'epic' is coming within a few days, titled 'Modus Operandi'. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the first chapter, BUT this is the first in the series of five 12-chapter stories. I'm trying to go for a combination of both individually satisfying stories centered around select legendaries, but I'm also going to make an overarching plot. If I can._

_Read and review, please!_


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